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SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS 



Edited, with Notes, 



BY 



WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., 

i 

FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



J 






WITH ENGRA VINGS. 




NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 



1883. 



.Pi* 



ENGLISH CLASSICS. 


Edited by WM. J. ROLFE, A.M. 


Illustrated. i6mo, Cloth, 56 cents per volume ; Paper, 40 cents per volume. 


Shakespeare's Works. 


Othello. 


King Lear. 


Julius Cassar. 


The Taming of the Shrew. 


The Merchant of Venice. 


All's Well that Ends Well. 


A Midsummer-Night's Dream. 


Coriolanus. 


Macbeth. 


The Comedy of Errors. 


Hamlet. 


Cymbeline. 


Much Ado about Nothing. 


Antony and Cleopatra. 


Romeo and Juliet. 


Measure for Measure. 


As You Like It. 


Merry Wives of Windsor. 


The Tempest. 


Love's Labour 's Lost. 


Twelfth Night. 


Two Gentlemen of Verona. 


The Winter's Tale. 


Timon of Athens. 


King John. 


Troilus and Cressida. 


Richard II. 


Henry VI. Part I. 


Henry IV. Part I. 


Henry VI. Part II. 


Henry IV. Part II. 


Henry VI. Part III. 


Henry V. 


Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 


Richard TIL 


The Two Noble Kinsmen. 


Henry VIII. 


Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, etc. 


Sonnets. 


Goldsmith's Select Poems. 


Gray's Select Poems. 


Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 


(H^p 3 Any of the above works will he sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part 


of the United States, on receipt of the price. 



Copyright, 1883, by Harper & Brothers. 



PREFACE. 



In this volume, as almost every page of the Introduction and the Notes 
bears witness, I have been under special obligations to Professor Dow- 
den's excellent editions of the Sonnets. I have not, however, drawn at 
all from Part II. of the Introduction to his larger edition (see the foot- 
note on p. n), which condenses into some seventy-five pages the entire 
literature of the Sonnets. For the critical student this careful resttme 
answers a double purpose : as a bibliography of the subject, directing 
him to the many books and papers that have been written upon the Son- 
nets, if he is moved to read any or all of them ; and as a compact and 
convenient substitute for these books and papers, if he wants to know 
their gist and substance without the drudgery of wading through them. 
I doubt not that the majority of students will be thankful that Professor 
Dowden has relieved them of this drudgery by compressing many a dull 
volume or magazine article into a page or a paragraph. 

I have said on page 1 1 that I am not fully satisfied with the theory 
that the Sonnets are all autobiographical, and that 1-126 form a regular 
series : but the more I study them the more I am inclined to that theory. 
The work I have done since the Introduction was sent to the printer, in 
revising the Notes and seeing them through the press, has steadily forced 
me towards an agreement with Dowden and the many poets and critics 
(see page 22) who believe that Shakespeare " unlocked his heart " in the 
Sonnets. But I still see difficulties in this theory, and still doubt whether 
Shakespeare had anything to do with bringing out the edition of 1609. 
If " Mr. W. H." was the person who collected and arranged the poems 
for the press, he seems to have known enough of their origin and their 
meaning to enable him to get them nearly in their proper order ; but I 
suspect that if Shakespeare had read the proof-sheets, he might have 
made some transpositions. If he could only have prefixed the "argu- 
ment " of them, as in the case of the Lucrece ! 

I will only add that the text of the Sonnets, like that of the Poems, is 
given without omission or expurgation. 

Cambridge, March 1, 1883. 










in her maiden hand 
The fairest votary took up that fire 
Which many legions of true hearts had warm'd {Sonn. 154) 



CONTENTS, 



PAGE 

Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets 9 

I. Their History 9 

II. Critical Comments on the Sonnets 12 

SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS 45 

Notes 125 




Nor that full star that ushers in the even 

Doth half that glory to the sober west 

As those two mourning eyes become thy face [Sonn. 132). 




INTRODUCTION 

TO 

SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS, 



I. THEIR HISTORY. 



The Sonnets were first published in 1609, with the follow- 
ing title-page (as given in the " Cambridge " ed.) : 

SHAKE- SPEARES, | Sonnets. | Neuer before Im- 
printed. I at london. I By G. Eld for T. T. and are | to be 
solde by William Aspley. | 1609. 



I o SHAKESPEARE'S SONNE TS. 

In some copies the imprint is as follows: 

AT LONDON | By G. Eld for T T and are [ to be 
solde by John Wright, dwelling | at Christ Church gate. | 
1609. 

At the end of the volume A Lover's Complaint was 
printed. 

In 1640 the Sonnets (with the exception of Nos. 18, 19, 
43> 56, 75, 76, 96, and 126), re-arranged under various titles, 
with some of the pieces in The Passionate Pilgrim, A Lover's 
Complaint, and sundry translations from Ovid and other 
poems ascribed to Shakespeare, but evidently none of his, 
were published with the following title : 

POEMS : I Written | by ) Wil. Shake-speare. | Gent. | 
Printed at London by Tho. Cotes, and are | to be sold by 
John Benson, dwelling in | S* Dunstans Church-yard. 1640. 

There is an introductory address "To the Reader" by 
Benson, in which he asserts that the poems are "of the 
same purity the Authour himselfe then living avouched," 
and that they will be found " seren, cleere and eligantly 
plaine." He adds that by bringing them "to the perfect 
view of all men " he is " glad to be serviceable for the con- 
tinuance of glory to the deserved Author." 

The order of the poems in this volume is followed in the 
editions of Gildon (1710) and of Sewell (1725 and 1728) \ 
also in those published by Ewing (177 1) and Evans (1775). 
In all these editions the sonnets mentioned above (18, 19, 
etc.) are omitted, and 138 and 144 are given in the form in 
which they appear in The Passionate Pilgrim. 

The first complete reprint of the Sonnets, after the edi- 
tion of 1609, appears to have been in the collected edition 
of Shakespeare's Poems, published by Lintott in 1709 (see 
our ed. of Venus and Adonis, etc., p. 13). 

The earliest known reference to the Sonnets is in the 
Palladis Tamia of Meres (cf. M. JV. D. p. 9, and C. of E. p. 
101), who speaks of them as "his sugred Sonnets among 



INTRODUCTION. 



II 



his priuate friends." This was in 1598, and in the next year 
two of them (138 and 144) were printed in The Passionate 
Pilgrim. We do not know that any of the others were pub- 
lished before 1609. They were probably written at inter- 
vals during many years. "Some, if we were to judge by 
their style, belong to the time when Romeo and Juliet was 
written. Others — as, for example, 66-74 — echo the sadder 
tone which is heard in Hamlet and Measure for Measure" 
(Dowden). It is evident that there is a gap of at least 
three years (see 104) between 99 and the following group 
(100-112). 

The theories concerning these interesting poems cannot 
even be enumerated in the space at our command. "Some 
have looked on them as one poem ; some as several poems — 
of groups of sonnets ; some as containing a separate poem 
in each sonnet. They have been supposed to be written in 
Shakespeare's own person, or in the character of another, 
or of several others; to be autobiographical or heterobio- 
graphical, or allegorical ; to have been addressed to Lord 
Southampton, to Sir William Herbert, to his own wife, to 
Lady Rich, to his child, to his nephew, to himself, to his 
muse. The 'W. H.' in the dedication has been interpreted 
as William Herbert, William Hughes, William Hathaway, 
William Hart (his nephew), William Himself, and Henry 
Wriothesly " (Fleay) * 

For our own part, we find it as difficult to believe that 
some of the Sonnets are autobiographical as that others 
are not; and all that has been written to prove that 1-126 
are all addressed to the same person fails to convince us. 
It is clear enough that certain sets (like 1-17, for instance) 

* Some of these theories are discussed in the extracts given below 
from Dowden's Introduction to his valuable edition of the Sonnets. For 
an admirable resume of the entire literature of the subject, see the larger 
edition of Dowden (London, 1881), Part II. of the Introduction, pp. 
36-110. 



12 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

form a regular series, but that all the poems are arranged 
in the order in which Shakespeare meant to have them is 
not so clear. There is no evidence that the edition of 1609 
was supervised or even authorized by him. The enigmati- 
cal dedication is not his, but the publisher's ; and if " Mr. 
W. H." was the person who procured the Sonnets for pub- 
lication (which, though doubtful, is perhaps less improbable 
than any other conjecture as to his relation to them), we 
may suppose that he would arrange them for the press. 
The order seems to us more like that of a collector — one 
who knew something of their history, and was interested in 
getting them together for publication — than that of the 
author. Possibly " Mr. W. H." had his own little theory 
as to the interconnection of some of them, like certain of 
the modern editors, no one of whom seems on the whole 
to have been any more successful in classifying them. We 
fear that both their order and their origin must continue to 
be among the insoluble problems of literature. 

II. CRITICAL COMMENTS ON THE SONNETS. 
[From Dowden's Edition.*] 

The student of Shakspere is drawn to the Sonnets not 
alone by their ardour and depth of feeling, their fertility and 
condensation of thought, their exquisite felicities of phrase, 
and their frequent beauty of rhythmical movement, but in a 
peculiar degree by the possibility that here, if nowhere else, 
the greatest of English poets may — as Wordsworth puts it — 
have "unlocked his heart." f It were strange if his silence, 

* The Sonnets of William Shakspere, edited by Edward Dowden (Lon- 
don, 1881), p. xv. fol. (also in the larger ed. p. 4 fol.). 

t Poets differ in the interpretation of the Sonnets as widely as critics : 

'■'■''With this same key 
Shakespeare unlocked his heart ' once more ! 
Did Shakespeare? If so the less Shakespeare he!" 

So, Mr. Browning ; to whom replies Mr. Swinburne, " No whit the less 
like Shakespeare, but undoubtedly the less like Browning." Some of 



INTRODUCTION. I3 

deep as that of the secrets of Nature, never once knew in- 
terruption. The moment, however, we regard the Sonnets 
as autobiographical, we find ourselves in the presence of 
doubts and difficulties, exaggerated, it is true, by many 
writers, yet certainly real. 

If we must escape from them, the simplest mode is to 
assume that the Sonnets are "the free outcome of a poetic 
imagination " (Delius). It is an ingenious suggestion of 
Delius that certain groups may be offsets from other poeti- 
cal works of Shakspere ; those urging a beautiful youth to 
perpetuate his beauty in offspring may be a derivative from 
Venus and Adonis ; those declaring love for a dark complex- 
ioned woman may rehandle the theme set forth in Berowne's 
passion for the dark Rosaline of Love's Labour 9 s Lost ; those 
which tell of a mistress resigned to a friend may be a non- 
dramatic treatment of the theme of love and friendship pre- 
sented in the later scenes of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
Perhaps a few sonnets, as no and in, refer to circum- 
stances of Shakspere's life (Dyce) ; the main body of these 
poems may still be regarded as mere exercises of the fancy. 

Such an explanation of the Sonnets has the merit of sim- 
plicity ; it unties no knots, but cuts all at a blow; if the col- 
lection consists of disconnected exercises of the fancy, we 

Shelley's feeling with reference to the Sonnets may be guessed from 
certain lines to be found among the Studies for Epipsychidion and Can- 
celed Passages (Poetical Works : ed. Forman, vol. ii. pp. 392, 393), to 
which my attention has been called by Mr. E. W. Gosse : 

11 If any should be curious to discover 
Whether to you I am a friend or lover, 
Let them read Shakspeare's sonnets, taking thence 
A whetstone for their dull intelligence 
That tears and will not cut, or let them guess 
How Diotima, the wise prophetess, 
Instructed the instructor, and why he 
Rebuked the infant spirit of melody 
On Agathon's sweet lips, which as he spoke 
Was as the lovely star when morn has broke 
The roof of darkness, in the golden dawn, 
Half-hidden and yet beautiful." 



14 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



need not try to reconcile discrepancies, nor shape a story, 
nor ascertain a chronology, nor identify persons. And what 
indeed was a sonneteer's passion but a painted fire ? What 
was the form of verse but an exotic curiously trained and 
tended, in which an artificial sentiment imported from Italy 
gave perfume and colour to the flower ? 

And yet, in this as in other forms, the poetry of the time, 
which possesses an enduring vitality, was not commonly 
caught out of the air, but — however large the conventional 
element in it may have been — was born of the union of 
heart and imagination ; in it real feelings and real experi- 
ence, submitting to the poetical fashions of the day, were 
raised to an ideal expression. Spenser wooed and wedded 
the Elizabeth of his Amoretti. The Astrophel and Stella tells 
of a veritable tragedy, fatal perhaps to two bright lives and 
passionate hearts. And what poems of Drummond do we 
remember as we remember those which record how he 
loved and lamented Mary Cunningham ? 

Some students of the Sonnets, who refuse to trace their 
origin to real incidents of Shakspere's life, allow that they 
form a connected poem, or at most two connected poems, 
and these, they assure us, are of deeper significance than 
any mere poetical exercises can be. They form a stupen- 
dous allegory ; they express a profound philosophy. The_ 
young friend whom Shakspere addresses is in truth the 
poet's Ideal Self, or Ideal Manhood, or the Spirit of Beauty, 
or the Reason, or the Divine Logos ; his dark mistress, 
whom a prosaic German translator . (Jordan) takes for a 
mulatto or quadroon, is indeed Dramatic Art, or the Catho- 
lic Church, or the Bride of the Canticles, black but comely. 
Let us not smile too soon at the pranks of Puck among the 
critics ; it is more prudent to move apart and feel gently 
whether that sleek nole, with fair large ears, may not have 
been slipped upon our own shoulders. 

When we question saner critics why Shakspere's Sonnets 



INTRODUCTION. I5 

may not be at once Dichtung und Wahrheit^ poetry and 
truth, their answer amounts to this : Is it likely that Shak- 
spere would so have rendered extravagant homage to a boy 
patron? Is it likely that one who so deeply felt the moral 
order of the world would have yielded, as the poems to his 
dark lady acknowledge, to a vulgar temptation of the senses? 
or, yielding, would have told his shame in verse ? Objections 
are brought forward against identifying the youth of the 
Sonnets with Southampton or with Pembroke ; it is pointed 
out that the writer speaks of himself as old, and that in a 
sonnet published in Shakspere's thirty-fifth year; here evi- 
dently he cannot have spoken in his own person, and if 
not here, why elsewhere ? Finally, it is asserted that the 
poems lack internal harmony • no real person can be — what 
Shakspere's friend is described as being — true and false, 
constant and fickle, virtuous and vicious, of hopeful expecta- 
tion, and publicly blamed for careless living. 

Shakspere speaks of himself as old ; true, but in the son- 
net published in The Passionate Pilgrim (138), he speaks as 
a lover, contrasting himself, skilled in the lore of life, with 
an inexperienced youth; doubtless at thirty-five he was not 
a Florizel nor a Ferdinand. In the poems to his friend, 
Shakspere is addressing a young man perhaps of twenty 
years, in the fresh bloom of beauty ; he celebrates with de- 
light the floral grace of youth, to which the first touch of 
time will be a taint ; those lines of thought and care, which 
his own mirror shows, bear witness to time's ravage. It is 
as a poet that Shakspere writes, and his statistics are those 
not of arithmetic but of poetry. 

That he should have given admiration and love without 
measure to a youth highborn, brilliant, accomplished, who 
singled out the player for peculiar favour, will seem wonder- 
ful only to those who keep a constant guard upon their af- 
fections, and to those who have no need to keep a guard at 
all. In the Renascence epoch, among natural products of 



1 6 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

a time when life ran swift and free, touching with its current 
high and difficult places, the ardent friendship of man with 
man was one. To elevate it above mere personal regard a 
kind of Neo- Platonism was at hand, which represented 
Beauty and Love incarnated in a human creature as earthly 
vicegerents of the Divinity. "It was then not uncommon," 
observes the sober Dyce, "for one man to write verses to 
another in a strain of such tender affection as fully warrants 
us in terming them amatory." Montaigne, not prone to 
take up extreme positions, writes of his dead Estienne de la 
Boetie with passionate tenderness which will not hear of 
moderation. The haughtiest spirit of Italy, Michael Angelo, 
does homage to the worth and beauty of young Tommaso 
Cavalieri in such words as these : 

11 Heavenward your spirit stirreth me to strain ; 
E'en as you will I blush and blanch again, 
Freeze in the sun, burn 'neath a frosty sky, 
Your will includes and is the lord of mine." 

The learned Languet writes to young Philip Sidney : 
" Your portrait I kept with me some hours to feast my eyes 
on it, but my appetite was rather increased than diminished 
by the sight." And Sidney to his guardian friend: "The 
chief object of my life, next to the everlasting blessedness 
of heaven, will always be the enjoyment of true friendship, 
and there you shall have the chiefest place." " Some," 
said Jeremy Taylor, " live under the line, and the beams of 
friendship in that position are imminent and perpendicular." 
" Some have only a dark day and a long night from him [the 
Sun], snows and white cattle, a miserable life and a perpet- 
ual harvest of Catarrhes and Consumptions, apoplexies and 
dead palsies ; but some have splendid fires and aromatick 
spices, rich wines and well - digested fruits, great wit and 
great courage, because they dwell in his eye and look in 
his face and are the Courtiers of the Sun, and wait upon 
him in his Chambers of the East; just so it is in friend- 



INTRODUCTION. jy 

ship." Was Shakspere less a courtier of the sun than Lan- 
guet or Michael Angelo ? 

If we accept the obvious reading of the Sonnets, we must 
believe that Shakspere at some time of his life was snared 
by a woman, the reverse of beautiful according to the con- 
ventional Elizabethan standard — dark- haired, dark -eyed, 
pale-cheeked (132); skilled in touching the virginal (128); 
skilled also in playing on the heart of man ; who could at- 
tract and repel, irritate and soothe, join reproach with ca- 
ress (145) ; a woman faithless to her vow in wedlock (152). 
Through her no calm of joy came to him ; his life ran 
quicker but more troubled through her spell, and she min- 
gled strange bitterness with its waters. Mistress of herself 
and of her art, she turned when it pleased her from the play- 
er to capture a more distinguished prize, his friend. For a 
while Shakspere was kept in the torture of doubt and sus- 
picion ; then confession and tears were offered by the 
youth. The wound had gone deep into Shakspere's heart: 

u Love knows it is a greater grief 
To bear love's wrong than hate's known injury." 

But, delivering himself from the intemperance of wrath, he 
could forgive a young man beguiled and led astray. Through 
further difficulties and estrangements their friendship trav- 
elled on to a fortunate repose. The series of sonnets 
which is its record climbs to a high, sunlit resting-place. 
The other series, which records his passion for a dark 
temptress, is a whirl of moral chaos. Whether to dismiss 
him, or to draw him farther on, the woman had urged upon 
him the claims of conscience and duty ; in the latest sonnets 
— if this series be arranged in chronological order — Shak- 
spere's passion, grown bitter and scornful (151, 152), strives, 
once for all, to defy and wrestle down his better will. 

Shakspere of the Sonnets is not the Shakspere serenely 
victorious, infinitely charitable, wise with all wisdom of the 
intellect and the heart, whom we know through The lempest 

B 



X 8 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

and King Henry VIII. He is the Shakspere of Venus and 
Adonis and Romeo and Juliet, on his way to acquire some of 
the dark experience of Measure for Measure, and the bitter 
learning of Troilus and Cressida. Shakspere's writings as- 
sure us that in the main his eye was fixed on the true ends 
of life ; but they do not lead us to believe that he was in- 
accessible to temptations of the senses, the heart, and the 
imagination. We can only guess the frailty that accompa- 
nied such strength, the risks that attended such high pow- 
ers ; immense demands on life, vast ardours, and then the 
void hour, the deep dejection. There appears to have been 
a time in his life when the springs of faith and hope had 
almost ceased to flow ; and he recovered these not by flying 
from reality and life, but by driving his shafts deeper tow- 
ards the centre of things. So Ulvsses was transformed 
into Prospero, worldly wisdom into spiritual insight. Such 
ideal purity as Milton's was not possessed nor sought by 
Shakspere; among these sonnets, one or two might be 
spoken by Mercutio, when his wit of cheveril was stretched 
to an ell broad. To compensate — Shakspere knew men and 
women a good deal better than did Milton, and probably 
no patches of his life are quite as unprofitably ugly as some 
which disfigured the life of the great idealist. His daughter 
could love and honour Shakspere's memory. Lamentable 
it is, if he was taken in the toils, but at least we know that 
he escaped all toils before the end. May we dare to con- 
jecture that Cleopatra, queen and courtesan, black from 
" Phoebus' amorous pinches," a " lass unparalleled," has 
some kinship through the imagination with our dark lady 
of the virginal? "Would I had never seen her," sighs out 
Antony, and the shrewd onlooker Enobarbus replies, " O, 
sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work ; 
which not to have been blest withal would have discredited 
your travel." 

Shakspere did not, in Byron's manner, invite the world to 



INTRODUCTION, I9 

gaze upon his trespass and his griefs. Setting aside two 
pieces printed by a pirate in 1599, not one of these poems, 
as far as we know, saw the light until long after they were 
written, according to the most probable chronology, and 
when in 1609 the volume entitled " Shake-speares Sonnets" 
was issued, it had, there is reason to believe, neither the 
superintendence nor the consent of the author.* Yet their 
literary merits entitled these poems to publication, and Shak- 
spere's verse was popular. /If they were written on fanciful 
themes, why were the Sonnets held so long in reserve? If, 
on the other hand, they were connected with real persons, 
and painful incidents, it was natural that they should not 
pass beyond the private friends of their possessor. 

But the Sonnets of Shakspere, it is said, lack inward unity. 
Some might well be addressed to Queen Elizabeth, some to 
Anne Hathaway, some to his boy Hamnet, some to the Earl 
of Pembroke or the Earl of Southampton ; it is impossible 
to make all these poems (1-126) apply to a single person. 
Difficulties of this kind may perplex a painful commentator, 
but would hardly occur to a lover or a friend living "where 
the beams of* friendship are imminent." The youth ad- 
dressed by Shakspere is " the master-mistress of his passion " 
(20) ; summing up the perfections of man and woman, of 
Helen and Adonis (53) ; a liege, and yet through love a com- 
rade ; in years a boy, cherished as a son might be ; in will 
a man, with all the power which rank and beauty give. 
Love, aching with its own monotony, invites imagination to 
invest it in changeful forms. Besides, the varying feelings 
of at least three years (104) — three years of loss and gain, 
of love, wrong, wrath, sorrow, repentance, forgiveness, per- 
fected union — are uttered in the Sonnets. When Shakspere 
began to write, his friend had the untried innocence of boy- 
hood and an unspotted fame; afterwards* came the offence 

* The quarto of 1609, though not carelessly printed, is far less accu- 
rate than Venus and Adonis. 



2 o SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS 

and the dishonour. And the loving heart practised upon it- 
self the piteous frauds of wounded affection: now it can 
credit no evil of the beloved, now it must believe the worst. 
While the world knows nothing but praise of one so dear, a 
private injury goes deep into the soul; when the world as- 
sails his reputation, straightway loyalty revives, and even puts 
a strain upon itself to hide each imperfection from view. 

A painstaking student of the Sonnets, Henry Brown, was 
of opinion that Shakspere intended in these poems to satirize 
the sonnet-writers of his time, and in particular his contem- 
poraries, Drayton and John Davies of Hereford. Professor 
Minto, while accepting the series ( i-i 26) as of serious import, 
regards the sonnets addressed to a woman (127-152) as 
" exercises of skill undertaken in a spirit of wanton defiance 
and derision of commonplace. /,, Certainly, if Shakspere is a 
satirist in 1 to 126, his irony is deep ; the malicious smile was 
not noticed during two centuries and a half. The poems 
are in the taste of the time; less extravagant and less full 
of conceits than many other Elizabethan collections, more 
distinguished by exquisite imagination, and all that betokens 
genuine feeling; they are, as far as manner goes, such son- 
nets as Daniel might have chosen to write if he had had the 
imagination and the heart of Shakspere. All that is quaint 
or contorted or " conceited " in them can be paralleled from 
passages of early plays of Shakspere, such as Romeo and 
Juliet, and The Two Gentlemen of Vero?ia, where assuredly no 
satirical intention is discoverable. In the sonnets 127 to 154 
Shakspere addresses a woman to whom it is impossible to 
pay the conventional homage of sonneteers ; he cannot tell 
her that her cheeks are lilies and roses, her breast is of snow, 
her heart is chaste and cold as ice. Yet he loves her, and 
will give her tribute of verse. He praises her precisely as a 
woman who, without beauty, is clever and charming, and a 
coquette, would choose to be praised. True, she owns no 
commonplace attractions ; she is no pink and white goddess ; 



IN TROD UC TION. 2 1 

all her imperfections he sees ; yet she can fascinate by some 
nameless spell; she can turn the heart hot or cold; if she is 
not beautiful, it is because something more rare and fine 
takes the place of beauty. She angers her lover; he de- 
clares to her face that she is odious, and at the same mo- 
ment he is at her feet. 

A writer whose distinction it is to have produced the 
largest book upon the Sonnets, Mr. Gerald Massey, holds 
that he has rescued Shakspere's memory from shame by the 
discovery of a secret history, legible in these poems to rightly 
illuminated eyes.* In 1592, according to this theory, Shak- 
spere began to address pieces in sonnet-form to his patron 
Southampton. Presently the earl engaged the poet to write 
love sonnets on his behalf to Elizabeth Vernon ; assuming 
also the feelings of Elizabeth Vernon, Shakspere wrote dra- 
matic sonnets, as if in her person, to the earl. The table- 
book containing Shakspere's autograph sonnets was given 
by Southampton to Pembroke, and at Pembroke's request 
was written the dark-woman series ; for Pembroke, although 
authentic history knows nothing of the facts, was enamoured 
of Sidney's Stella, now well advanced in years, the unhappy 
Lady Rich. A few of the sonnets which pass for Shakspere's 
are really by Herbert, and he, the " Mr. W. H." of Thorpe's 
dedication, is the " only begetter," that is, procurer of these 
pieces for the publisher. The Sonnets require re-arrange- 
ment, and are grouped in an order of his own by Mr. Massey. 

Mr. Massey writes with zeal ; with a faith in his own 
opinions which finds scepticism hard to explain except on 
some theory of intellectual or moral obliquity; and he ex- 
hibits a wide, miscellaneous reading. The one thing Mr. 
Massey's elaborate theory seems to me to lack is some evi- 
dence in its support. His arguments may well remain un- 
answered. One hardly knows how to tug at the other end 
of a rope of sand. 

* The first hint of this theory was given by Mrs. Jameson. 



22 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

With Wordsworth, Sir Henry Taylor, and Mr. Swinburne, 
with Francois-Victor Hugo, with Kreyssig, Ulrici, Gervinus, 
and Hermann Isaac,* with Boaden, Armitage Brown, and 
Hallam, with Furnivall, Spalding, Rossetti, and Palgrave, I 
believe that Shakspere's Sonnets express his own feelings in 
his own person. To whom they were addressed is unknown. 
W T e shall never discover the name of that woman who for a 
season could sound, as no one else, the instrument in Shak- 
spereis heart from the lowest note to the top of the compass. 
To the eyes of no diver among the wrecks of time will that 
curious talisman gleam. Already, when Thorpe dedicated 
these poems to their " only begetter," she perhaps was lost 
in the quick-moving life of London, to all but a few, in whose 
memory were stirred, as by a forlorn, small wind, the grey 
ashes of a fire gone out. As to the name of Shakspere's 
youthful friend and patron, we conjecture on slender evi- 
dence at the best. Setting claimants aside on whose behalf 
the evidence is absolutely none, except that their Christian 
name and surname begin with a W and an H, two remain 
whose pretensions have been supported by accomplished 
advocates. Drake (1817), a learned and refined writer, was 
the first to suggest that the friend addressed in Shakspere's 
Sonnets was Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, to 
whom Venus and Adonis was dedicated in 1593, and in the 
following year Zucrece, in words of strong devotion resem- 
bling those of the twenty-sixth sonnet.t B. Heywood Bright 
(1819), and James Boaden (1832), independently arrived at 
the conclusion that the Mr. W. H. of the dedication, the 
" begetter " or inspirer of the Sonnets, was William Herbert, 

* A learned and thoughtful student of the Sonnets. See his articles 
in Archivfur das Studium der A T eueren Sprache)i und Literatwen, 1878- 

79- 

t Drake did not, as is sometimes stated, suppose that Mr. W. H. was 
Southampton. He took "begetter" to mean obtainer ; and left Mr. W. 
H. unidentified. Others hold that " W. H." are the initials of Southamp- 
ton's names reversed, as a blind to the public. 



INTRODUCTION. 2 $ 

Earl of Pembroke, to whom, with his brother, as two well- 
known patrons of the great dramatist, his fellows Heminge 
and Condell dedicated the First Folio. Wriothesley was 
born in 1573, nine years after Shakspere; Herbert in 1580, 
Wriothesley at an early age became the lover of Elizabeth 
.Vernon, needing therefore no entreaties to marry (1-17); 
he was not beautiful ; he bore no resemblance to his mother 
(3. 9) ; his life was active, with varying fortunes, to which 
allusions might be looked for in the Sonnets, such as may 
be found in the verses of his other poet, Daniel. Further, 
it appears from the punning sonnets (135 and 143), that the 
Christian name of Shakspere's friend was the same as his 
own, Will, but Wriothesley's name was Henry. To Her- 
bert the punning sonnets and the "Mr. W. H." of the dedi- 
cation can be made to apply. He was indeed a nobleman 
in 1609, but a nobleman might be styled Mr.; " Lord Buck- 
hurst is entered as M. Sackville in England's Parnassus" 
(Minto) ; or the Mr. may have been meant to disguise the 
truth. Herbert was beautiful ; was like his illustrious 
mother; was brilliant, accomplished, licentious; "the most 
universally beloved and esteemed, " says Clarendon, "of any 
man of his age." Like Southampton, he was a patron of 
poets, and he loved the theatre. In 1599 attempts were 
unsuccessfully made to induce him to become a suitor for 
the hand of the Lord Admiral's daughter. So far the bal- 
ance leans towards Herbert. But his father lived until 1601 
(see 13 and Notes) ; Southampton's father died while his 
son was a boy; and the date of Herbert's birth (1580), 
taken in connection with Meres's mention of sonnets, and 
the "Two loves" of the Passionate Pilgrim sonnet (1599), 
144, may well cause a doubt. 

A clue, which promises to lead us to clearness, and then 
deceives us into deeper twilight, is the characterization (78- 
86) of a rival poet who for a time supplanted Shakspere in 
his patron's regard. This rival, the " better spirit " of 80, 



24 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

was learned (78) ; dedicated a book to Shakspere's patron 
(82); celebrated his beauty and knowledge (82); in 
" hymns " (85); was remarkable for "the full proud sail of 
his great verse" (86,80); was taught "by spirits" to write 
" above a mortal pitch," was nightly visited by " an affable 
familiar ghost " who "gulled him with intelligence" (86). 
Here are allusions and characteristics which ought to lead 
to identification. Yet in the end we are forced to confess 
that the poet remains as dim a figure as the patron. 

Is it Spenser? He was learned, but what ghost was that 
which gulled him? Is it Marlowe? His verse was proud 
and full, and the creator of Faustus may well have had deal- 
ings with his own Mephistophelis, but Marlowe died in May, 
1593, the year of Venus and Adonis. Is it Drayton, or Nash, 
or John Davies of Hereford? Persons in search of an in- 
geniously improbable opinion may choose any one of these. 
Is it Daniel? Daniel's reputation stood high; he was re- 
garded as a master by Shakspere in his early poems; he 
was brought up at Wilton, the seat of the Pembrokes, and in 
1 60 1 he inscribed his Defence of Rytne to William Herbert; 
the Pembroke family favoured astrologers, and the ghost that 
gulled Daniel may have been the same that gulled Allen, 
Sandford, and Dr. Dee, and through them gulled Herbert. 
Here is at least a clever guess, and Boaden is again the 
guesser. But Professor Minto makes a guess even more 
fortunate. No Elizabethan poet wrote ampler verse, none 
scorned " ignorance " more, or more haughtily asserted his 
learning than Chapman. In The Tears of Peace (1609), 
Homer as a spirit visits and inspires him ; the claim to such 
inspiration may have been often made by the translator of 
Homer in earlier years. Chapman was pre-eminently the 
poet of Night. The Shadow of Night, with the motto " Ver- 
sus mei habebunt aliquantum Noctis," appeared in 1594; 
the title-page describes it as containing "two poeticall 
Hymnes." In the dedication Chapman assails unlearned 



INTROD UCTION. 



2 5 



"passion-driven men," "hide-bound with affection to great 
men's fancies/' and ridicules the alleged eternity of their 
"idolatrous platts for riches." "Now what a supereroga- 
tion in wit this is, to think Skill so mightily pierced with 
their loves, that she should prostitutely show them her 
secrets, when she will scarcely be looked upon by others, 
but with invocation, fasting, watching; yea, not without hav- 
ing drops of their souls like a heavenly familiar." Of Chap- 
man's Homer a part appeared in 1596; dedicatory sonnets 
in a later edition are addressed to both Southampton and 
Pembroke. 

Mr. W. H.j the only begetter of the Sonnets, remains un- 
known. Even the meaning of the word " begetter " is in 
dispute. " I have some cousin-germans at court," writes 
Decker in Satiromastix, " shall beget you the reversion of the 
master of the king's revels," where beget evidently means 
procure. Was the " begetter " of the Sonnets, then, the per- 
son who procured them for Thorpe ? I cannot think so ; 
there is special point in the choice of the word " begetter," 
if the dedication be addressed to the person who inspired 
the poems and for whom they were written. Eternity through 
offspring is what Shakspere most desires for his friend ; if he 
will not beget a child, then he is promised eternity in verse 
by his poet — in verse " whose influence is thine, and born 
of thee (78). Thus was Mr. W. H. the begetter of these 
poems, and from the point of view of a complimentary ded- 
ication he might well be termed the ofily begetter. 

I have no space to consider suggestions which seem to 
me of -little weight — that W. H. is a misprint for W. S., 
meaning William Shakspere; that " W. H. all" should be 
read "W. Hall;" that a full stop should be placed after 
"wisheth," making Mr. W. H., perhaps William Herbert or 
William Hathaway, the wisher of happiness to Southamp- 
ton, the only begetter (Ph. Chasles and Bolton Corney) ; 
nor do I think we need argue for or against the supposition 



26 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

of a painful German commentator (Barnstorff), that Mr. W. 
H. is none other than Mr. William Himself. When Thorpe 
uses the words " the adventurer in setting forth," perhaps 
he meant to compare himself to one of the young volun- 
teers in the days of Elizabeth and James, who embarked on 
naval enterprises, hoping to make their fortunes by discov- 
ery or conquest ; so he with good wishes took his risk on 
the sea of public favour in this light venture of the Son- 
nets.* 

The date at which the Sonnets were written, like their ori- 
gin, is uncertain. In Willobie's Avisa, 1594, in commen- 
datory verse prefixed to which occurs the earliest printed 
mention of Shakspere by name, H. W. (Henry Willobie), pin- 
ing with love for Avisa, bewrays his disease to his familiar 
friend W. S., " who not long before had tried the curtesy of 
the like passion, and was now newly recovered of the like 
infection. " W. S. encourages his friend in a passion which 
he knows must be hopeless, intending to view this " loving 
Comedy " from far off, in order to learn " whether it would 
sort to a happier end for this new actor than it did for the 
old player." From Canto 44 to 48 of Avisa, W. S. addresses 
H. W. on his love-affair, and H. W. replies. It is remarka- 
ble that Canto 47 in form and substance bears resemblance 
to the stanzas in The Pas sionate Pilgrim beginning " Whenas 
thine eye hath chose the dame." Assuming that W. S. is 
William Shakespeare, we learn that he had loved unwisely, 
been laughed at, and recovered from the infection of his 
passion before the end of 1594. It seemed impossible to 
pass by a poem which has been described as " the one con- 
temporary book which has ever been supposed to throw any 
direct or indirect light on the mystic matter" of the Son- 
nets. But although the reference to W. S., his passion for 
Avisa fair and chaste, and his recovery, be matter of interest 
to inquirers after Shakspere's life, Willobie's Avisa seems to 
* See Dr. Grosart's Donue, vol. ii. pp. 45, 46. 



INTRODUCTION. 2 y 

me to have no point of connection with the Sonnets of Shak- 
spere.* . . . 

Various attempts have been made by English, French, 
and German students to place the Sonnets in a new and 
better order, of which attempts no two agree between them- 
selves. That the Sonnets are not printed in the quarto, 
1609, at haphazard, is evident from the fact that the Envoy ^ 
126, is rightly placed; that poems addressed to a mistress 
follow those addressed to a friend ; and that the two Cupid 
and Dian sonnets stand together at the close. A nearer 
view makes it apparent that in the first series (1-126) a con- 
tinuous story is conducted through various stages to its ter- 
mination ; a more minute inspection discovers points of 
contact or connection between sonnet and sonnet, and a 
natural sequence of thought, passion, and imagery. We are 
in the end convinced that no arrangement which has been 
proposed is as good as that of the quarto. But the force 
of this remark seems to me to apply with certainty only to 
Sonnets 1-126. The second series (127-154), although some 
of its pieces are evidently connected with those which stand 
near them, does not exhibit a like intelligible sequence : a 
better arrangement may, perhaps, be found ; or, it may be, 
no possible arrangement can educe order out of the strug- 
gles between will and judgment, between blood and reason ; 
tumult and chaos are, perhaps, a portion of their life and 
being. 

A piece of evidence confirming the opinion here advanced 
will be found in the use of thou and you by Shakspere as a 
mode of address to his friend. Why thou or you is chosen, 
is not always explicable ; sometimes the choice seems to be 
determined by considerations of euphony ; sometimes of 

* The force of the allusion to tragedy and comedy is weakened by the 
fact that we find in Alcilia (1595) the course of love spoken of as a tragi- 
comedy, where no reference to a real actor on the stage is intended : 
" Sic incipit stultorum Tragicomoedia." 



28 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

rhyme; sometimes intimate affection seems to indicate the 
use of you, and respectful homage that of thou; but this is 
by no means invariable. What I would call attention to, 
however, as exhibiting something like order and progress in 
the arrangement of 1609, is this: that in the first fifty son- 
nets, you is of extremely rare occurrence, in the second fifty 
you and thou alternate in little groups of sonnets, thou hav- 
ing still a preponderance, but now only a slight preponder- 
ance ; in the remaining twenty-six, you becomes the ordinary 
mode of address, and thou the exception. In the sonnets to 
a mistress, thou is invariably employed. A few sonnets of the 
first series, as 63-68, have " my love," and the third person 
throughout* 

Whether idealizing reality or wholly fanciful, an Eliza- 
bethan book of sonnets was — not always, but in many in- 
stances — made up of a chain or series of poems, in a de- 
signed or natural sequence, viewing in various aspects a 
single theme, or. carrying on a love-story to its issue, pros- 
perous or the reverse. Sometimes advance is made through 
the need of discovering new points of view, and the move- 
ment, always delayed, is rather in a circuit than straight for- 
ward. In Spenser's Amoretti we read the progress of love 
from humility through hope to conquest. In Astrophel and 

* I cannot here present detailed statistics. 1 Thou and you are to be 
considered only when addressing friend or lover, not Time, the Muse, 
etc. Five sets of sonnets may then be distinguished : 1. Using thou. 
2. Using you. 3. Using neither, but belonging to a thou group. 4. Using 
neither, but belonging to a you group. 5. Using both (24). I had hoped 
that this investigation was left to form one of my gleanings. But Pro- 
fessor Goedeke, in the Deutsche Rundschau, March, 1877, looked into the 
matter ; his results seem to me vitiated by an arbitrary division of the 
sonnets using neither thou nor you into groups of eleven and twelve, and 
by a fantastic theory that Shakspere wrote his sonnets in books or groups 
of fourteen each. 

1 In his larger ed., published later, Dowden adds a tabular classification of the Son- 
nets under the five heads mentioned. — Ed. 



INTRODUCTION. 2g 

Stella, we read the story of passion struggling with untoward 
fate, yet at last mastered by the resolve to do high deeds : 

" Sweet ! for a while give respite to my heart 
Which pants as though it still would leap to thee ; 
And on my thoughts give thy Lieutenancy 
To this great Cause." 

In Parthenophil and Parthenophe the story is of a new love 
supplanting an old, of hot and cold fevers, of despair, and, 
as last effort of the desperate lover, of an imagined attempt 
to subdue the affections of his cruel lady by magic art. But 
in reading Sidney, Spenser, Barnes, and still more, Watson, 
Constable, Drayton, and others, although a large element of 
the art-poetry of the Renascence is common to them and 
Shakspere, the student of Shakspere's Sonnets does not feel 
at home. It is when we open Daniel's Delia that we recog- 
nize close kinship. The manner is the same, though the 
master proves himself of tardier imagination and less ardent 
temper. Diction, imagery, rhymes, and, in sonnets of like 
form, versification, distinctly resemble those of Shakspere. 
Malone was surely right when he recognized in Daniel the 
master of Shakspere as a writer of sonnets — a master quickly 
excelled by his pupil. And it is in Daniel that we find son- 
net starting from sonnet almost in Shakspere's manner, only 
that Daniel often links poem with poem in more formal wise, 
the last or the penultimate line of one poem supplying the 
first line of that which immediately follows. 

Let us attempt to trace briefly the sequence of incidents 
and feelings in the Sonnets 1-126. A young man, beautiful, 
brilliant, and accomplished, is the heir of a great house ; he 
is exposed to temptations of youth, and wealth, and rank. 
Possibly his mother desires to see him married ; certainly it 
is the desire of his friend. "I should be glad if you were 
caught," writes Languet to Philip Sidney, " that so you might 
give to your country sons like yourself." " If you marry a 
wife, and if you beget children like yourself, you will be do- 



3° 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



h 



ing better service to your country than if you were to cut the 
throats of a thousand Spaniards and Frenchmen." " ' Sir/ 
said Croesus to Cambyses," Languet writes to Sidney, now 
aged twenty-four, " ' I consider your father must be held your 
better, because he was the father of an admirable prince, 
whereas you have as yet no son like yourself/ " It is in 
the manner of Sidney's own Cecropia that Shakspere urges 
marriage upon his friend.* " Nature when you were first 
born, vowed you a woman, and as she made you child of a 
mother, so to do your best to be mother of a child " (Sonnet 
13. 14); "she gave you beauty to move love; she gave you 
wit to know love ; she gave you an excellent body to reward 
love ; which kind of liberal rewarding is crowned with an 
unspeakable felicity. For this as it bindeth the receiver, so 
it makes happy the bestower ; this doth not impoverish, but 
enrich the giver (6. 6). O the comfort of comforts, to see 
your children grow up, in whom you are as it were eter- 
nized ! . . . Have you seen a pure Rose-water kept in a crys- 
tal glass, how fine it looks, how sweet it smells, while that 
beautiful glass imprisons it ! Break the prison and let the 
water take his own course, doth it not embrace the dust, and 
lose all his former sweetness and fairness ; truly so are we, 
if we have not the stay, rather than the restraint of Crystal- 
line marriage (5) ; . . . And is a solitary life as good as this? 
then can one string make as good music as a consort (8)." 
In like manner Shakspere urges the youth to perpetuate 
is beauty in offspring (1-17).! But if Will refuses, then 
his poet will make war against Time and Decay, and confer 
immortality upon his beloved one by Verse (15-19). Will 
is the pattern and exemplar of human beauty (19), so unit- 
ing in himself the perfections of man and woman (20) \ this 

* Arcadia, lib. iii. Noticed hy Mr. Massey in his Shakespeare's Son- 
nets and his Private Friends, pp. 36, 37. 

t In what follows, to avoid the confusion of he and him, call Shak- 
spere's friend, as he is called in 135, Will. 



INTRODUCTION. 3I 

is no extravagant praise, but simple truth (21). And such a 
being has exchanged love with Shakspere (22), who must 
needs be silent with excess of passion (23), cherishing in 
his heart the image of his friend's beauty (24), but holding 
still more dear the love from which no unkind fortune can 
ever separate him (25). Here affairs of his own compel 
Shakspere to a journey which removes him from Will (26, 
27). Sleepless at night, and toiling by day, he thinks of the 
absent one (27, 28); grieving for his own poor estate (29), 
and the death of friends, but finding in the one beloved 
amends for all (30, 31); and so Shakspere commends to 
his friend his poor verses as a token of affection which may 
survive if he himself should die (32). At this point the 
mood changes — in his absence his friend has been false to 
friendship (33) ; now, indeed, Will would let the sunshine 
of his favour beam out again, but that will not cure the dis- 
grace ; tears and penitence are fitter (34) ; and for sake of 
such tears Will shall be forgiven (35), but henceforth their 
lives must run apart (36) ; Shakspere, separated from Will, 
can look on and rejoice in his friend's happiness and honour 
(37), singing his praise in verse (38), which he could not do 
if they were so united that to praise his friend were self- 
praise (39) ; separated they must be, and even their loves 
be no longer one ; Shakspere can now give his love, even 
her he loved, to the gentle thief; wronged though he is, he 
will still hold Will dear (40) ; what is he but a boy whom a 
woman has beguiled (41)? and for both, for friend and mis- 
tress, in the midst of his pain, he will try to feign excuses 
(42). Here there seems to be a gap of time. The Sonnets 
begin again in absence, and some students have called this, 
perhaps rightly, the Second Absence (43 fol.). His friend 
continues as dear as ever, but confidence is shaken, and a 
deep distrust begins to grow (48). What right indeed has 
a poor player to claim constancy and love (49) ? He is on 
a journey which removes him from Will (50, 51). His 



32 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

friend perhaps professes unshaken loyalty, for Shakspere 
now takes heart, and praises Will's truth (53, 54) — takes 
heart, and believes that his own verse will forever keep 
that truth in mind. He will endure the pain of absence, 
and have no jealous thoughts (57,- 58) ; striving to honour 
his friend in song better than ever man was honoured be- 
fore (59) ; in song which shall outlast the revolutions of 
time (60). Still he cannot quite get rid of jealous fears 
(61) ; and yet, what right has one so worn by years and 
care to claim all a young man's love (62) ? Will, too, in his 
turn must fade, but his beauty will survive in verse (63). 
Alas ! to think that death will take away the beloved one 
(64) ; nothing but verse can defeat time and decay (65). 
For his own part Shakspere would willingly die, were it not 
that, dying, he would leave his friend alone in an evil world 
(66). Why should one so beautiful live to grace this ill 
world (67) except as a survival of the genuine beauty of the 
good old times (68) ; yet beautiful as he is, he is blamed 
for careless living (69), but surely this must be slander (70). 
Shakspere here returns to the thought of his own death : 
when I leave this vile world, he says, let me be forgotten 
(71, 72) ; and my death is not very far off (73) ; but when 
I die my spirit still lives in my verse (74). A new group 
seems to begin with 75. Shakspere loves his friend as a 
miser loves his gold, fearing it may be stolen (fearing a rival 
poet?). His verse is monotonous and old-fashioned (not 
like the rival's verse ?) (76) ; so he sends Will his manu- 
script book unfilled, which Will may fill, if he please, with 
verse of his own ; Shakspere chooses to sing no more of 
Beauty and of Time; Will's glass and dial may inform him 
henceforth on these topics (77). The rival poet has now 
won the first place in Will's esteem (78-86). Shakspere 
must bid his friend farewell (87). If Will should scorn him, 
Shakspere will side against himself {%^, 89). But if his 
friend is ever to hate him, let it be at once, that the bitter- 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

ness of death may soon be past (90). He has dared to say 
farewell, yet his friend's love is all the world to Shakspere, 
and the fear of losing him is misery (91); but he cannot 
really lose his friend, for death would come quickly to save 
him from such grief; and yet Will may be false and Shak- 
spere never know it (92) ; so his friend, fair in seeming, 
false within, would be like Eve's apple (93) ; it is to such 
self-contained, passionless persons that nature intrusts her 
rarest gifts of grace and beauty \ yet vicious self-indulgence 
will spoil the fairest human soul (94). So let Will beware 
of his youthful vices, already whispered by the lips of men 
(95) ; true, he makes graces out of faults, yet this should be 
kept within bounds (96). Here again, perhaps, is a gap of 
time.* Sonnets 97-99 are written in absence, which some 
students, perhaps rightly, call Third Absence. These three 
sonnets are full of tender affection, but at the close of 99 
allusion is made to Will's vices, the canker in the rose. After 
this followed a period of silence. In 100 love begins to re- 
new itself, and song awakes. Shakspere excuses his silence 
(101); his love has grown while he was silent (102); his 
friend's loveliness is better than all song (103) ; three years 
have passed since first acquaintance ; Will looks as young 
as ever, yet time must insensibly be altering his beauty (104). 
Shakspere sings with a monotony of love (105). All former 
singers praising knights and ladies only prophesied concern- 
ing Will (106) ; grief and fear are past ; the two friends are 
reconciled again ; and both live forever united in Shak- 
spere's verse (107). Love has conquered time and age, 
which destroy mere beauty of face (108). Shakspere con- 
fesses his errors, but now he has returned to his home of 

* The last two lines of 96 — not very appropriate, I think, in that sonnet 
— are identical with the last two lines of 36. It occurs to me as a possi- 
bility that the MS. in Thorpe's hands may here have been imperfect, and 
that he filled it up so far as to complete 96 with a couplet from an earlier 
sonnet. 

c 



34 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

love (109), he will never wander again (no); and his past 
faults were partly caused by his temptations as a player (in); 
he cares for no blame and no praise now except those of his 
friend (112). Once more he is absent from his friend (Fourth 
Absence?), but full of loving thought of him (113, 114). Love 
has grown and will grow yet more (115). Love is uncon- 
querable by Time (it6). Shakspere confesses again his 
wanderings from his friend ; they were tests of Wilts con- 
stancy (117); and they quickened his own appetite for gen- 
uine love (118). Ruined love rebuilt is stronger than at first 
(1 19) ; there were wrongs on both sides and must now be mut- 
ual forgiveness (120). Shakspere is not to be judged by the 
report of malicious censors (121); he has given away his 
friend's present of a table-book, because he needed no re- 
membrancer (122) ; records and registers of time are false; 
only a lover's memory is to be wholly trusted, recognizing 
old things in what seem new (123) ; Shakspere's love is not 
based on self-interest, and therefore is uninfluenced by fort- 
une (124) ; nor is it founded on external beauty of form or 
face, but is simple love for love's sake (125). Will is still 
young and fair, yet he should remember that the end must 
come at last (126). 

Thus the series of poems addressed to his friend closes 
gravely with thoughts of love and death. The Sonnets may 
be divided at pleasure into many smaller groups, but I find 
it possible to go on without interruption from 1 to 32; from 
33 to 42 ; from 43 to 74; from 75 to 96; from 97 to 99; from 
ioo'to 126.* 

I do not here attempt to trace a continuous sequence in 
the sonnets addressed to the dark-haired woman, 127-154; 
I doubt whether such continuous sequence is to be found in 

* Perhaps there is a break at 58. The most careful studies of the se- 
quence of the Sonnets are Mr. Furnivall's, in his preface to the Leopold 
Shakspere, and Mr. Spalding's, in The Gentleman 's Magazine, March, 
1878. 



INTRODUCTION. 35 

them ; but in the Notes some points of connection between 
sonnet and sonnet are pointed out. 

If Shakspere " unlocked his heart" in these Sonnets, what 
do we learn from them of that great heart ? I cannot answer 
otherwise than in words of my own formerly written. " In 
the Sonnets we recognize three things: that Shakspere was 
capable of measureless personal devotion ; that he was ten- 
derly sensitive, sensitive above all to every diminution or 
alteration of that love his heart so eagerly craved ; and that, 
when wronged, although he suffered anguish, he transcended 
his private injury, and learned to forgive. . . . The errors of 
his heart originated in his sensitiveness, in his imagination 
(not at first inured to the hardness of fidelity to the fact), in 
his quick consciousness of existence, and in the self-abandon- 
ing devotion of his heart. There are some noble lines by 
Chapman, in which he pictures to himself the life of great 
energy, enthusiasms, and passions, which forever stands upon 
the edge of utmost danger, and yet forever remains in abso- 
lute security : 

* Give me a spirit that on this life's rough sea 
Loves to have his sails fill'd with a lusty wind 
Even till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack, 
And his rapt ship runs on her side so low 
That she drinks water, and her keel ploughs air ; 
There is no danger to a man that knows 
What life and death is, — there's not any law 
Exceeds his knowledge ; neither is it lawful 
That he should stoop to any other law.' 

" Such a master-spirit, pressing forward under strained can- 
vas, was Shakspere. If the ship dipped and drank water, 
she rose again ; and at length we behold her within view of 
her haven, sailing under a large, calm wind, not without to- 
kens of stress of weather, but if battered, yet unbroken by 
the waves." The last plays of Shakspere, The Tempest, Cym- 
beline, Winter's Tale, He?iry VIII., illuminate the Sonnets and 
justify the moral genius of their writer. 



36 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



[From Mr. F. J. FurnivalP s Comments on the Sonnets.*] 

The great question is, do Shakspere's Sonnets speak his 
own heart and thoughts or not? And were it not for the 
fact that many critics really deserving the name of Shak- 
spere students, and not Shakspere fools, have held the Son- 
nets to be merely dramatic, I could not have conceived that 
poems so intensely and evidently autobiographic and self- 
revealing, poems so one with the spirit and inner meaning 
of Shakspere's growth and life, could ever have been con- 
ceived to be other than what they are, the records of his own 
loves and fears. And I believe that if the acceptance of 
them as such had not involved the consequence of Shak- 
spere's intrigue with a married woman, all readers would 
have taken the Spnnets as speaking of Shakspere's own life. 
But his admirers are so anxious to remove every stain from 
him that they contend for a non-natural interpretation of his 
poems. . . XJfhey forget Shakspere's impulsive nature, and 
his long absence from his home. They will not face the 
probabilities of the case, or recollect that David was still 
God's friend though Bathsheba lived. The Sonnets are, in 
one sense, Shakspere's Psalms. Spiritual struggles underlie 
both poets' work. For myself, I 'd accept any number of 
"slips in sensual mire" on Shakspere's part, to have the 
"bursts of (loving) heart" given us in the Sonnets. 

The true motto for the first group of Shakspere's Sonnets 
is to be seen in David's words, " I am distressed for thee, 
my brother Jonathan ; very pleasant hast thou been unto me. 
Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of woman." 
We have had them reproduced for us Victorians, without 
their stain of sin and shame, in Mr. Tennyson's In Memo- 
riam. We have had them again to some extent in Mrs. 
Browning's glorious Sonnets to her husband, with their iter- 
ance, " Say over again, and yet once over again, that thou 

* The Leopold Shakspere (London, 1877), p. lxiii. fol. 



INTRODUCTION. 37 

dost love me." We may look upon the Sonnets as a piece 
of music, or as Shakspere's pathetic sonata, each melody in- 
troduced, dropped again, brought in again with variations, but 
one full strain of undying love and friendship through the 
whole. Why could Shakspere say so beautifully for Antonio 
of The Merchant, "All debts are cleared between you and I, 
if I might but see you at my death : notwithstanding, use 
your pleasure " ? Why did he make Antonio of Ttv elf th- Night 
say, "A witchcraft drew me hither"? Why did he make 
Viola declare — 

" And I most jocund, apt, and willingly, 
To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die " ? 

Why did he paint Helena alone ; saying — 

s< 'T was pretty though a plague 
To see him every hour ; to sit and draw 
His arched brows, his hawking eyes, his curls, 
In our heart's table, — heart too capable 
Of every line and trick of his sweet favour ! 
But now he's gone, and my idolatrous fancy 
Must sanctify his relics " ? 

Because he himself was Helena, Antonio. A witchcraft 
drew him to a " boy," a youth to whom he gave his 

11 Love without pretension or restraint, 
All his in dedication." 

Shakspere towards him was as Viola towards the Duke. He 

went 

" After him I love more than I love these eyes, 
More than my life." 

In the Sonnets we have the gentle Will, the melancholy mild- 
eyed man, of the Droeshout portrait. Shakspere's tender, 
sensitive, refined nature is seen clearly here, but through a 
glass darkly in the plays. 

I have no space to dwell on the .sections into which I 
separate the Sonnets, and which follow in the table below. 
I will only call special attention to sections 9 and 1 1/3 (Nos. 



38 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



71-74, 87-93), in which Shakspere's love to his friend is so 
beautifully set forth, and to section 13 (Nos. 97-99), in which 
Will's flower-like beauty is dwelt on, as Shakspere's love for 
him in absence recalled it. Let those who want to realize 
the difference between one kind of friendship and another, 
contrast these Sonnets of Shakspere's with Bacon's celebrat- 
ed Essay on Friendship. On this point I quote the first 
page of a paper sent in to me at my Bedford Lectures : 

"There are some men who love for the sake of what love 
yields, and of these was Lord Bacon ; and there are some 
who love for ' love's sake,' and loving once, love always ; and 
of these was Shakspere. These do not lightly give their 
love, but once given, their faith is incorporate with their be- 
ing; and having become part of themselves, to part with that 
part would be to be dismembered. Therefore if change or 
sin corrupt the engrafted limb, the only effect is that the 
whole body is shaken with anguish, 

* And yet, love knows, it is a greater grief 
To bear love's wrongs, than hate's known injury.' — Sonn. 40. 

The offending member may be nursed into health, or loved 
into life again \ but — forsaken ! — never ! 

' Love is not love, 
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove.' — Sonn. 116. 

These are not the men who reap outer advantage from their 
friendship ; they generally give rather than take ; they are 
often the victims of circumstance, and the scapegoats for 
their friends' offences; still, they reap the benefit which in- 
ward growth produces ; the glorious leaven of self-abnegat- 
ing love within them impregnates their whole being; they 
move simply and naturally among us, but we feel that they 
stand on a higher level than we — that they see with ' larger, 
other eyes than ours,' and we yield them homage, and feel 
better for having known them." — M. J. 



INTRODUCTION. 



39 



Section I. Sonnets 1-26. a. 1 



2. 



7- 



8. 



27-32. 



The thoughtless objection that many Sonnets in this group 
confuse the sex of the person they 're addressed to, is so plain- 
ly answered by Shakspere himself in Sonnet 20, on the master- 
mistress of his passion, that one can only wonder — although 
a Shakspere student is bound to wonder at nothing in his 
commentators — that the objection was ever taken. 

SONNETS. 

Analysis of Group i. Sonnets -1-126. 

■17. Will's beauty, and his duty to marry 
and beget a son. 
/3. 18-26. Will's beauty, and Shakspere's love 

for him. 
First Absence. Shakespere travelling, and away 
from Will. 
33-35. Will's sensual fault blamed, repented, and for- 
given. 
36-39. Shakspere has committed a fault that will sep- 
arate him from Will. 
40-42. Will has taken away Shakspere's mistress. 

(See Group 2, § 6, Sonnets 133-136.) 
43-61. a. 43-56. Second Absence, Will absent. Shak- 
spere has a portrait of him. 
A 57—58. The sovereign: slave watching: so 

made by God. 
7. 59-60. Will's beauty. 

S. 61. Waking and watching. Shakspere 
has rivals. 
62-65. Shakspere full of self-love, conquered by Time, 
which will conquer Will too : yet Shakspere 
will secure him eternity. 
66-70. Shakspere (like Hamlet) tired of the world : 
but not only on public grounds. Will has 
mixed with bad company ; but Shakspere is 
sure he is pure, and excuses him. 
" 9. " 71-74. Shakspere on his own death, and his entire love 

for his friend. (Compare the death-thoughts 
in Hamlet and Measure for Measure.*) 

* I do not think that " The coward conquest of a wretch's knife," 74. 



11, alludes to an attempt to stab Shakspere. 
founding age's cruel knife " of 63. 10. 



I believe it is the " con- 



4 o - SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 

Section 10. Sonnets 75-77. Shakspere's love, and always writing on one 

theme, his Will ; with the present of a 
table-book, dial, and pocket looking-glass 
combined in one. 
" II. " 78-93. a. 78-86. ShakspereonhisrivalsinWill'slove. 

(G. Chapman, the rival poet.*) 
/3. 87-93. Shakspere's farewell to Will: most 
beautiful in the self-forgetfulness 
of Shakspere's love. 
" 12. " 94-96. Will vicious. 

" 13. " 97-99. Third Absence. Will's flower-like beauty, 

and Shakspere's love for him ; followed by 
faults on both sides, and a separation,! 
ended by Will's desire, 120. 11. 

* " The proud full sail of his great verse " (86. 1) probably alludes to the 
swelling hexameters of Chapman's englishing of Homer. " His spirit, 
by spirits taught to write," may well refer to Chapman's claim that 
Homer's spirit inspired him, a claim made, no doubt, in words, before its 
appearance in print in his Tears of Peace \ 1609, Inductio, p. 112, col. i., 
Chatto and Windus ed. — 

" I am, said he [Homer], that spirit Elysian, 

That did thy bosom fill 

With such a flood of soul, that thou wert fain, 
With exclamations of her rapture then. 
To vent it to the echoes of the vale . . . 

and thou didst inherit 

My true sense, for the time then, hi my spirit; 
A nd I invisibly went prompting thee. "... 

See, too, on Shakspere's sneer at his rival's " affable familiar ghost, which 
nightly gulls him with intelligence," Chapman's Dedication to his Shadow 
of Night (1594), p. 3, "not without having drops of their souls like an 
awaked familiar" and in his Tears of Peace, p. 123, col. 2: 

" Still being persuaded by the shameless night, 
That all my reading, writing, all my pains, 
Are serious trifles, and the idle veins 
Of an u?tthrifty angel that deludes 
My simple fancy." . ... 

These make a better case for Chapman being the rival than has been 
made for any one else. (Mr. Harold Littledale gave me some of these 
references.) 

t Happily not ending like that of Sir Leoline and Lord Roland de Vaux, 
in Coleridge. 



INTRODUCTION. 41 

Section 14. Sonnets 100-121. a. 100-112. Renewing of love, three years 

after the first Sonnets (104). 
Shakspere's love stronger 
now in its summer thanit was 
in its spring, 102. 5 ; 119. 10- 
12 * Note the "hell of time" 
( 1 20. 6) that Will's unkindness 
has made Shakspere pass.t 
j3. 113-114. Fourth Absence. Shakspere 

sees Will in all nature, 
y. 115-121. Shakspere describes his love for 
Will, and justifies himself. 
" 15. " 122-126. Shakspere excuses himself for giving away 

Will's present of some tables, again de- 
scribes his love for Will, and warns Will 
that he too must grow old. 

With regard to the Second Group of Sonnets, we must al- 
ways keep Shakspere's own words in No. 121 before us : 

" I am that I am ;J and they that level 
At my abuses, reckon up their own : 
I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel ; 
By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown ; 
Unless this general evil they maintain, — 
All men are bad, and in their badness reign." 

Still I think it is plain that Shakspere had become involved 
in an intrigue with a married woman, who threw him over for 
his friend Will. She was dark, had beautiful eyes, and was 
a fine musician, but false. The most repulsive of the Son- 
nets is no doubt No. 129. But that and the others plainly 
show that Shakspere knew that his love was his sin (142), 

* The doctrine here that " ruin'd love, when it is built anew, Grows 
fairer than at first" was also put into Tennyson's Princess in its " Bless- 
ings on the falling-out, that all the more endears ;" but was rightly taken 
out again. 

t "And to be wroth with one we love, 

Doth work like madness in the brain." — Coleridge. 

\ Compare Iago's " I am not what I am," in Othello, i. 1, and Parolles's 
" Simply the thing I am shall make me live," in All \r Well, iv. 3. 



42 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



and that in his supposed heaven he found hell.* Adultery 
in those days was no new thing, was treated with an indiffer- 
ence that we wonder at now. What was new, is that which 
Shakspere shows us, his deep repentance for the sin com- 
mitted. Sad as it may be to us to be forced to conclude 
that shame has to be cast on the noble name we reverence, 
yet let us remember that it is but for a temporary stain on 
his career, and that through the knowledge of the human 
heart he gained by his own trials we get the intensest and 
most valuable records of his genius. It is only those who 
have been through the mill themselves, that know how hard 
God's stones and the devil's grind. 

The Second Group of Sonnets, 127-154, 1 divide into — 

Section 1. Sonnet 127. On his mistress's dark complexion, brows, and 

eyes. (Cf. Berowne on his dark Rosaline, 
in Love's Labours Lost.) 

" 2. u 128. On her, his music, playing music (the virginals). 

" 3. " 129. On her, after enjoying her. He laments his 

weakness. 

" 4. " 130. On her, a chaffing description of her. (Com- 

pare Marlowe's Ignoto ; Lingua, before 1603, 
in Dodsley^ ix. 370; and Shirley's Sisters: 
" Were it not fine," etc.) 

" 5. " 131-132. Though plain to others, his mistress is fairest 
to Shakspere's doting heart. But her deeds 
are black ; and her black eyes pity him. 

" 6. " 133-136. She has taken his friend Will from him (cf. 
40-42). He asks her to restore his friend 
(134), or to take him as part of her (and his) 
Will (135). If she'll but love his name, she '11 
love him (Shakspere), as his name too is Will 
(136). 

" 7. " 137-145. Shakspere knows his mistress is not beautiful, 
and that she 's false, but he loves her (137). 
Each lies to and flatters the other (138). Still 
if she '11 only look kindly on him, it '11 be 
enough (139). She must not look too cruel- 
ly, or he might despair and go mad, and tell 

* Sonnets 1 19. 2, 8 ; 147. 1, 14. 



INTRODUCTION. A ~ 

43 

the world that ill of her that it would only 
too soon believe (140). He loves her in 
spite of his senses (141). She has broken 
her bed-vow; then let her pity him (142). 
She may catch his friend if she will but give 
him a smile (143). He has two loves, a fair 
man, a dark woman who 'd corrupt the man 
(144, the Key Sonnet). She was going to say 
she hated him, but, seeing his distress, said, 
not him (145). 
Section 8. Sonnet I46.'(? Misplaced.) A remonstrance with himself, 

on spending too much, either on dress or out- 
ward self-indulgence, and exhorting himself 
to give it up for inward culture. (The blank 
for two words in line 2, 1 fill with " Hemm'd 
with:" cf. Venus and Adonis, 1022," Hemm'd 
with thieves.") 

" 9. " 147-148. Shakspere's feverish love drives him mad, his 

doctor — Reason — being set aside (147). Love 
has obscured his sight (148). 

" 10. " 149-152. He gives himself up wholly to his mistress; 

loves whom she loves, hates whom she hates 
(149). The worst of her deeds he loves bet- 
ter than any other's best (150). The more 
he ought to hate her, the more he loves her. 
He is content to be her drudge, for he loves 
her (151). Yet he 's forsworn, for he 's told 
lies of her goodness, and she has broken her 
bed-vow; he has broken twenty oaths (152). 

" 11. " 153-154. (May be made Group III., or Division 2 of 

Group II.). Two sonnets lighter in tone. 
In both Cupid sleeps, has his brand put out, 
in (153) a fountain, (154) a well, which the 
brand turns into medical baths ; Shakspere 
comes for cure to each, but finds none. He 
wants his mistress's eyes for that (153). Wa- 
ter cools not love (154). 

I always ask that the Sonnets should be read between the 
Second and Third Periods,* for the "hell of time " of which 

* For Mr. Furnivall's classification of Shakespeare's plays and poems, 
see our ed. of A. Y. L. p. 25. — Ed. 



44 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



they speak is the best preparation for the temper of that 
Third Period, and enables us to understand it. The fierce 
and stern decree of that Period seems to me to be, " there 
shall be vengeance, death, for misjudgment, failure in duty, 
self-indulgence, sin/' and the innocent who belong to the 
guilty shall suffer with them : Portia, Ophelia, Desdemona, 
Cordelia, lie beside Brutus, Hamlet, Othello, Lear. 




SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



TO . THE . ONLIE . BEGETTER . OF . 

THESE . INSVING . SONNETS . 

M r . W. H. ALL . HAPPINESSE . 

AND . THAT . ETERNITIE . 

PROMISED . 

BY. 

OVR . EVER-LIVING . POET . 

WISHETH . 

THE . WELL-WISHING . 

ADVENTVRER -IN . 

SETTING . 

FORTH . 

T. T. 




HEAD OF EROS (CUPID), FROM THE ANTIQUE. 



SONNETS. 



From fairest creatures we desire increase, 
That thereby beauty's rose might never die, 
But as the riper should by time decease, 
His tender heir might bear his memory ; 
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, 
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel, 
Making a famine where abundance lies, 
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. 
Thou, that art now the world's fresh ornament 
And only herald to the gaudy spring, 
Within thine own bud buriest thy content 
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding. 
Pity the world, or else this glutton be, 
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. 



4 8 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS, 



II. 

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, 
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, 
Thy youth's proud livery, so gaz'd on now, 
Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held ; 
Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies, 
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days, 
To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes, 
Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise. 
How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use, 
If thou couldst answer ' This fair child of mine 
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,' 
Proving his beauty by succession thine ! 

This were to be new made when thou art old, 
And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold. 



III. 

Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest 
Now is the time that face should form another ; 
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest, 
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. 
For where is she so fair whose unear'd womb 
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry ? 
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb 
Of his self-love, to stop posterity ? 
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee 
Calls back the lovely April of her prime ; 
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see, 
Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time. 
But if thou live, remember'd not to be, 
Die single, and thine image dies with thee. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



IV. 

Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend 
Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy ? 
Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend, 
And being frank she lends to those are free. 
Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse 
The bounteous largess given thee to give ? 
Profitless usurer, why dost thou use 
So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live ? 
For having traffic with thyself alone, 
Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive. 
Then how, when nature calls thee to be gone, 
What acceptable audit canst thou leave ? 

Thy unus'd beauty must be tomb'd with thee, 
Which, used, lives th' executor to be. 



49 



Those hours, that with gentle work did frame 

The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell, 

Will play the tyrants to the very same 

And that unfair which fairly doth excel ; 

For never-resting time leads summer on 

To hideous winter and confounds him there; 

Sap check'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone, 

Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where : 

Then, were not summer's distillation left, 

A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass, 

Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft, 

Nor it nor no remembrance what it was : 

But flowers distill'd, though they with winter meet, 6 9 
Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet. 

D 



50 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



VI. 



Then let not winter's ragged hand deface 

In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill'd : 

Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place 

With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-kill'd. 

That use is not forbidden usury 

Which happies those that pay the willing loan ; 

That's for thyself to breed another thee, 

Or ten times happier, be it ten for one ; 

Ten times thyself were happier than thou art, 

If ten of thine ten times refigur'd thee : 

Then what could death do, if thou shouldst depart, 

Leaving thee living in posterity? 

Be not self-will'd, for thou art much too fair 

To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir. 



VII. 

Lo ! in the orient when the gracious light 
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye 
Doth homage to his new-appearing sight, 
Serving with looks his sacred majesty; 
And having climb'd the steep-up heavenly hill, 
Resembling strong youth in his middle age, 
Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still, 
Attending on his golden pilgrimage; 
But when from highmost pitch, with weary car, 
Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day, 
The eyes, fore duteous, now converted are 
From his low tract and look another way : 
So thou, thyself out-going in thy noon, 
Unlook'd on diest, unless thou get a son. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



VIII. 

Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly ? 
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy. 
Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly, 
Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy? 
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds, 
By unions married, do offend thine ear, 
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds 
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear. 
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another, 
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering, 
Resembling sire and child and happy mother, 
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing; 

Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one, 
Sings this to thee : ' Thou single wilt prove none/ 



IX. 

Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye 
That thou consum'st thyself in single life ? 
Ah ! if thou issueless shalt hap to die, 
The world will wail thee, like a makeless wife ; 
The world will be thy widow and still weep 
That thou no form of thee hast left behind, 
When every private widow well may keep 
By children's eyes her husband's shape in mind. 
Look, what an unthrift in the world doth spend 
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it; 
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end, 
And kept unus'd, the user so destroys it. 
No love toward others in that bosom sits 
That on himself such murtherous shame commits. 



Si 



52 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



X. 

For shame ! deny that thou bear'st love to any, 
Who for thyself art so unprovident. 
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art belov'd of many, 
But that thou none lov'st is most evident; 
For thou art so possess'd with murtherous hate 
That 'gainst thyself thou stick'st not to conspire, 
Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate 
Which to repair should be thy chief desire. 
O, change thy thought, that I may change my mind ! 
Shall hate be fairer lodg'd than gentle love ? 
Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind, 
Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove ; 
Make thee another self, for love of me, 
That beauty still may live in thine or thee. 



XI. 

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest 
In one of thine, from that which thou departest; 
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest 
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest. 
Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase ; 
Without this, folly, age, and cold decay : 
If all were minded so, the times should cease 
And threescore year would make the world away. 
Let those whom Nature hath not made for store, 
Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish : 
Look, whom she best endow'd she gave the more, 
Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish ; 
She carv'd thee for her seal, and meant thereby 
Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 53 



XII. 

When I do count the clock that tells the time, 
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night, 
When I behold the violet past prime, 
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white, 
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves 
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, 
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves 
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, 
Then of thy beauty do I question make, 
That thou among the wastes of time must go, 
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake 
And die as fast as they see others grow; 

And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence 
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. 



XIII. 

O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are 
No longer yours than you yourself here live ; 
Against this coming end you should prepare, 
And your sweet semblance to some other give. 
So should that beauty which you hold in lease 
Find no determination ; then you were 
Yourself again after yourself s decease, 
When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear. 
Who lets so fair a house fall to decay, 
Which husbandry in honour might uphold 
Against the stormy gusts of winter's day 
And barren rage of death's eternal cold ? 

O, none but unthrifts ! Dear my love, you know 
You had a father ; let your son say so. 



54 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XIV. 

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck ; 
And yet metjiinks I have astronomy, 
But not to tell of good or evil luck, 
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality ; 
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, 
Pointing to each his thunder, rain, and wind, 
Or say with princes if it shall go w 7 ell, 
By oft predict that I in heaven find : 
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, 
And, constant stars, in them I read such art 
As truth and beauty shall together thrive, 
If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert ; 
Or else of thee this I prognosticate : 
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date. 



XV. 

When I consider every thing that grows 
Holds in perfection but a little moment, 
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows 
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment ; 
When I perceive that men as plants increase, 
Cheered and check'd even by the self-same sky, 
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease, 
And wear their brave state out of memory ; 
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay 
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight, 
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay, 
To change your day of youth to sullied night ; 
And all in war with Time for love of you, 
As he takes from you, I engraft you new. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 5S 



XVI. 

But wherefore do not you a mightier way 
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time ? 
And fortify yourself in your decay 
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme ? 
Now stand you on the top of happy hours, 
And many maiden gardens yet unset 
With virtuous wish would bear your living flowers, 
Much liker than your painted counterfeit; 
So should the lines of life that life repair, 
W 7 hich this time's pencil or my pupil pen, 
Neither in inward worth nor outward fair, 
Can make you live yourself in eyes of men. 
To give away yourself keeps yourself still, 
And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill. 



XVII. 

Who will believe my verse in time to come, 
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts ? 
Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb 
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts. 
If I could write the beauty of your eyes 
And in fresh numbers number all your graces, 
The age to come would say, 'This poet lies; 
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.' 
So should my papers, yellow'd with their age, 
Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue, 
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage 
And stretched metre of an antique song; 

But were some child of yours alive that time, 
You should live twice, — in it and in my rhyme. 



56 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XVIII. 

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day ? 
Thou art more lovely and more temperate : 
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 
And summer's lease hath all too short a date; 
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd ; 
And every fair from fair sometime declines, 
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; 
But thy eternal summer shall not fade 
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; 
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, 
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, 
So long lives this and this gives life to thee. 



XIX. 

Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws, 
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood; 
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws, 
And burn the long-liv'd phoenix in her blood; 
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets, 
And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time, 
To the wide world and all her fading sweets ; 
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime : 
O, carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow, 
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen ; 
Him in thy course untainted do allow 
For beauty's pattern to succeeding men. 

Yet, do thy worst, old Time ; despite thy wrong, 
My love shall in my verse ever live young. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS, 



XX. 



57 



A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted 

Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion ; 

A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted 

With shifting change, as is false women's fashion ; 

An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling, 

Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth ; 

A man in hue, all hues in his controlling, 

Which steals men's eyes and women ; s souls amazeth. 

And for a woman wert thou first created ; 

Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting, 

And by addition me of thee defeated, 

By adding one thing to my purpose nothing. 

But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure, 
Mine be thy love, and thy love's use their treasure. 



XXI. 

So is it not with me as with that Muse 

Stirr'd by a painted beauty to his verse, 

Who heaven itself for ornament doth use 

And every fair with his fair doth rehearse ; 

Making a couplement of proud compare, 

With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems, 

With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare 

That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems. 

O, let me, true in love, but truly write, 

And then believe me, my love is as fair 

As any mother's child, though not so bright 

As those gold candles fix'd in heaven's air : 

Let them say more that like of hearsay well; 

I will not praise that purpose not to sell. 



58 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXII. 

My glass shall not persuade me I am old, 
So long as youth and thou are of one date ; 
But when in thee time's furrows I behold, 
Then look I death my days should expiate. 
For all that beauty that doth cover thee 
Is but the seemly raiment of my heart, 
Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me : 
How can I then be elder than thou art ? 
O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary 
As I, not for myself, but for thee will; 
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary 
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill. 

Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain ; 

Thou gav'st me thine, not to give back again. 



XXIII. 

As an unperfect actor on the stage 

Who with his fear is put besides his part, 

Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage, 

Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart, 

So I, for fear of trust, forget to say 

The perfect ceremony of love's rite, 

And in mine own love's strength seem to decay, 

O'ercharg'd with burden of mine own love's might. 

O, let my books be then the eloquence 

And dumb presagers of my speaking breast, 

W T ho plead for love and look for recompense 

More than that tongue that more hath more express'd. 

O, learn to read what silent love hath writ; 

To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXIV. 

Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stelPd 
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart ; 
My body is the frame wherein 't is held, 
And perspective it is best painter's art. 
For through the painter must you see his skill, 
To find where your true image pictur'd lies; 
Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still, 
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes. 
Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done: 
Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me 
Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun 
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee ; 

Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art, — 
They draw but what they see, know not the heart. 



XXV. 

Let those who are in favour with their stars 
Of public honour and proud titles boast, 
Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars, 
Unlook'd for joy in that I honour most. 
Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread 
But as the marigold at the sun's eye, 
And in themselves their pride lies buried, 
For at a frown they in their glory die. 
The painful warrior famoused for fight, 
After a thousand victories once foil'd, 
Is from the book of honour razed quite, 
And all the rest forgot for which he toil'd : 
Then happy I, that love and am belov'd 
Where I may not remove nor be remov'd. 



59 



6o SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXVI. 



Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage 

Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit, 

To thee I send this written embassage, 

To witness duty, not to show my wit : 

Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine 

May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it, 

But that I hope some good conceit of thine 

In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it; 

Till whatsoever star that guides my moving 

Points on me graciously with fair aspect, 

And puts apparel on my tatter'd loving, 

To show me worthy of thy sweet respect : 

Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee ; 

Till then not show my head where thou mayst prove 
me. 

XXVII. 

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, 

The dear repose for limbs with travel tir'd, 

But then begins a journey in my head, 

To work my mind, when body's work 's expir'd; 

For then my thoughts, from far where I abide, 

Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee, 

And keep my drooping eyelids open wide, 

Looking on darkness which the blind do see: 

Save that my soul's imaginary sight 

Presents thy shadow to my sightless view, 

Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night, 

Makes black night beauteous and her old face new. 

Lo ! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind, 

For thee and for myself no quiet find. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. fa 



XXVIII. 

How can I then return in happy plight, 
That am debarr'd the benefit of rest ? 
When day's oppression is not eas'd by night, 
But day by night, and night by day, oppress'd ? 
And each, though enemies to either's reign, 
Do in consent shake hands to torture me ; 
The one by toil, the other to complain 
How far I toil, still farther off from thee. 
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright 
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven : 
So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night, 
When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even. 
But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer, 
And night doth nightly make grief's strength seem 
stronger. 

XXIX. 

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, 
I all alone beweep my outcast state, 
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, 
And look upon myself and curse my fate, 
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd, 
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, 
With what I most enjoy contented least; 
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 
Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 
Like to the lark at break of day arising 
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's g.ate: 
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings 
That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 



62 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXX. 

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought 

I summon up remembrance of things past, 

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, 

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste 

Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow, 

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, 

And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe, 

And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight; 

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, 

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er 

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, 

Which I new pay as if not paid before. 

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, 
All losses are restor'd and sorrows end. 



XXXI. 

Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts, 
Which I by lacking have supposed dead, 
And there reigns love and all love's loving parts. 
And all those friends which I thought buried. 
How many a holy and obsequious tear 
Hath dear religious love stolen from mine eye 
As interest of the dead, which now appear 
But things remov'd that hidden in thee lie ! 
Thou art the grave where buried love doth live, 
Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone, 
Who all their parts of me to thee did give; 
That due of many now is thine alone: 
Their images I lov'd I view in thee, 
And thou, all they, hast all the all of me. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXXII. 



03 



If thou survive my well-contented day, 
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover, 
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey 
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover, 
Compare them with the bettering of the time, 
And though they be outstripp'd by every pen, 
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme, 
Exceeded by the height of happier men. 
O, then vouchsafe me but this loving thought: 
* Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age, 
A dearer birth than this his love had brought, 
To march in ranks of better equipage ; 
But since he died and poets better prove, 
Theirs for their style I '11 read, his for his love.' 



XXXIIL 

Full many a glorious morning have I seen 
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye, 
Kissing with golden face the meadows green, 
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy; 
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride, 
With ugly rack on his celestial face, 
And from the forlorn world his visage hide, 
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace : 
Even so my sun one early morn did shine 
With all-triumphant splendour on my brow; 
But out, alack ! he was but one hour mine, 
The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now. 

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth; 

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth. 



64 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXXIV. 

Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day 

And make me travel forth without my cloak, 

To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way, 

Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke? 

T is not enough that through the cloud thou break, 

To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face, 

For no man well of such a salve can speak 

That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace: 

Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief; 

Though thou repent, yet I have still the loss: 

The offender's sorrow lends but weak relief 

To him that bears the strong offence's cross. 

Ah ! but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds, 
And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds. 



XXXV. 

No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done 
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud; 
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun, 
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud. 
All men make faults, and even I in this, 
Authorizing thy trespass with compare, 
Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss, 
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are; 
For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense — 
Thy adverse party is thy advocate — 
And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence. 
Such civil war is in my love and hate 
That I an accessary needs must be 
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXXVI. 

Let me confess that we two must be twain, 
Although our undivided loves are one ; 
So shall those blots that do with me remain 
Without thy help by me be borne alone. 
In our two loves there is but one respect, 
Though in our lives a separable spite, 
Which though it alter not love's sole effect, 
Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight. 
I may not evermore acknowledge thee, 
Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame, 
Nor thou with public kindness honour me, 
Unless thou take that honour from thy name: 
But do not so ; I love thee in such sort 
As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report. 



XXXVII. 

As a decrepit father takes delight 

To see his active child do deeds of youth, 

So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite, 

Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth ; 

For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit, 

Or any of these all, or all, or more, 

Entitled in thy parts do crowned sit, 

I make my love engrafted to this store. 

So then I am not lame, poor, nor despis'd, 

Whilst that this shadow doth such substance give 

That I in thy abundance am suffic'd 

And by a part of all thy glory live. 

Look, what is best, that best I wish in thee : 
This wish I have; then ten times happy me! 

E 



65 



66 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XXXVIII. 

How can my Muse want subject to invent, 

While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse 

Thine own sweet argument, too excellent 

For every vulgar paper to rehearse ? 

O, give thyself the thanks, if aught in me 

Worthy perusal stand against thy sight; 

For who 's so dumb that cannot write to thee, 

When thou thyself dost give invention light? 

Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth 

Than those old nine which rhymers invocate ; 

And he that calls on thee, let him bring forth 

Eternal numbers to outlive long date. 

If my slight Muse do please these curious days, 
The pain be mine, but thine shall be the praise. 



XXXIX. 

O, how thy worth with manners may I sing, 
When thou art all the better part of me ? 
What can mine own praise to mine own self bring? 
And what is 't but mine own when I praise thee? 
Even for this let us divided live, 
And our dear love lose name of single one, 
That by this separation I may give 
That due to thee which thou deserv'st alone. 
O absence, what a torment would st thou prove, 
Were it not thy sour leisure gave sweet leave 
To entertain the time with thoughts of love, 
Which time and thoughts so sweetly doth deceive, 
And that thou teachest how to make one twain, 
By praising him here who doth hence remain! 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 67 



XL. 

Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all ; 
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before? 
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call ; 
All mine was thine before thou hadst this more. 
Then if for ray love thou my love receivest, 
I cannot blame thee for my love thou usest; 
But yet be blam'd, if thou thyself deceivest 
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest. 
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief, 
Although thou steal thee all my poverty; 
And yet, love knows, it is a greater grief 
To bear love's wrong than hate's known injury. 
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows, 
Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes. 



XLI. 



Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits, 
When I am sometime absent from thy heart, 
Thy beauty and thy years full well befits, 
For still temptation follows where thou art. 
Gentle thou art and therefore to be won, 
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed ; 
And when a woman woos, what woman's son 
Will sourly leave her till she have prevailed ? 
Ay me ! but yet thou mightst my seat forbear, 
And chide thy beauty and thy straying youth, 
Who lead thee in their riot even there 
Where thou art forc'd to break a twofold truth, 
Hers, by thy beauty tempting her to thee, 
Thine, by thy beauty being false to me. 



68 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XLII. 

That thou hast her, it is not all my grief, 

And yet it may be said I lov'd her dearly; 

That she hath thee, is of my wailing chief, 

A loss in love that touches me more nearly. 

Loving offenders, thus I will excuse ye: 

Thou dost love her, because thou know'st I love her; 

And for my sake even so doth she abuse me, 

Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her. 

If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain, 

And losing her, my friend hath found that loss ; 

Both find each other, and I lose both twain, 

And both for my sake lay on me this cross : 

But here's the joy; my friend and I are one; 

Sweet flattery! then she loves but me alone. 

XLIII. 

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see, 
For all the day they view things unrespected ; 
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee, 
And darkly bright are bright in dark directed. 
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright, 
How would thy shadow's form form happy show 
To the clear day with thy much clearer light, 
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so! 
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made 
By looking on thee in the living day, 
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade 
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay! 
All days are nights to see till I see thee, 
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee 
me. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XLIV. 

If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, 
Injurious distance should not stop my way; 
For then despite of space I would be brought, 
From limits far remote, where thou dost stay. 
No matter then although my foot did stand 
Upon the farthest earth remov'd from thee ; 
For nimble thought can jump both sea and land 
As soon as think the place where he would be. 
But, ah! thought kills me that I am not thought, 
To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone, 
But that, so much of earth and water wrought, 
I must attend time's leisure with my moan, 
Receiving nought by elements so slow 
But heavy tears, badges of either's woe. 



XLV. 

The other two, slight air and purging fire, 
Are both with thee, wherever I abide ; 
The first my thought, the other my desire, 
These present-absent with swift motion slide. 
For when these quicker elements are gone 
In tender embassy of love to thee, 
My life, being made of four, with two alone 
Sinks down to death, oppress'd with melancholy ; 
Until life's composition be recur'd 
By those swift messengers return'd from thee, 
Who even but now come back again, assur'd 
Of thy fair health, recounting it to me. 
This told, I joy; but then no longer- glad, 
I send them back again, and straight grow sad. 



6 9 



7° 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XLVI. 

Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war 
How to divide the conquest of thy sight; 
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar, 
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right. 
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie, — 
A closet never pierced with crystal eyes — 
But the defendant doth that plea deny 
And says in him thy fair appearance lies. 
To 'cide this title is impanelled 
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart, 
And by their verdict is determined 
The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part; 
As thus: mine eye's due is thy outward part, 
.And my heart's right thy inward love of heart. 



XLVIL 

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took, 
And each doth good turns now unto the other: 
When that mine eye is famish'd for a look, 
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother, 
With my love's picture then my eye doth feast 
And to the painted banquet bids my heart; 
Another time mine eye is my heart's guest 
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part. 
So, either by thy picture or my love, 
Thyself away art present still with me; 
For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move, 
And I am still with them and they with thee ; 
Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight 
Awakes my heart to heart's and eye's delight. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



71 



XLVIII. 

How careful was I, when I took my way, 
Each trifle under truest bars to thrust, 
That to my use it might unused stay 
From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust ! 
But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are, 
Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief, 
Thou, best of dearest and mine only care, 
Art left the prey of every vulgar thief. 
Thee have I not lock'd up in any chest, 
Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art, 
Within the gentle closure of my breast, 
From whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part; 
And even thence thou wilt be stolen, I fear, 
For truth proves thievish for a prize so dear. 



XLIX. 

Against that time, if ever that time come, 
When I shall see thee frown on my defects, 
Whenas thy love hath cast his utmost sum, 
Call'd to that audit by advis'd respects ; 
Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass 
And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye, 
When love, converted from the thing it was, 
Shall reasons find of settled gravity, — 
Against that time do I ensconce me here 
Within the knowledge of mine own desert, 
And this my hand against myself uprear, 
To guard the lawful reasons on thy part : 

To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws, 
Since why to love I can allege no cause. 



72 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



How heavy do I journey on the way, 

When what I seek, my weary travel's end, 

Doth teach that ease and that repose to say, 

* Thus far the miles are measur'd from thy friend I' 

The beast that bears me, tired with my woe, 

Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me, 

As if by some instinct the wretch did know 

His rider lov'd not speed, being made from thee:. 

The bloody spur cannot provoke him on 

That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide; 

Which heavily he answers with a groan, 

More sharp to me than spurring to his side ; 

For that same groan doth put this in my mind, — 
My grief lies onward and my joy behind. 



LI. 

Thus can my love excuse the slow offence 
Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed : 
From where thou art why should Fhaste me thence? 
Till I return, of posting is no need. 
O, what excuse will my poor beast then find, 
When swift extremity can seem but slow? 
Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind; 
In winged speed no motion shall I know : 
Then can no horse with my desire keep pace ; 
Therefore desire, of perfect'st love being made, 
Shall neigh — no dull flesh — in his fiery race; 
But love, for love, thus shall excuse my jade : 
Since from thee going he went wilful-slow, 
Towards thee I '11 run, and give him leave to go. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LII. 

So am I as the rich, whose blessed key 
Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure, 
The which he will not every hour survey, 
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure. 
Therefore are feasts so solemn and so rare, 
Since, seldom coming, in the long year set, 
Like stones of worth they thinly placed are, 
Or captain jewels in the carcanet. 
So is the time that keeps you as my chest, 
Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide, 
To make some special instant special blest, 
By new unfolding his imprisoned pride. 

Blessed are you, whose worthiness gives scope, 
Being had, to triumph, being lack'd, to hope. 



LIII. 

What is your substance, whereof are you made, 
That millions of strange shadows on you tend? 
Since every one hath, every one, one shade, 
And you, but one, can every shadow lend. 
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit 
Is poorly imitated after you ; 
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set, 
And you in Grecian tires are painted new: 
Speak of the spring and foison of the year, 
The one doth shadow of your beauty show, 
The other as your bounty doth appear; 
And you in every blessed shape we know. 
In all external grace you have some part, 
But you like none, none you, for constant heart. 



73 



74 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LIV. 

O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem 
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give! 
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem 
For that sweet odour which doth in it live. 
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye 
As the perfumed tincture of the roses, 
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly 
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses; 
But, for their virtue only is their show, 
They live unwoo'd and unrespected fade, 
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so ; 
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made : 
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, 
When that shall vade, my verse distills your truth. 



LV. 

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments 
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; 
But you shall shine more bright in these contents 
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time. 
When wasteful war shall statues overturn, 
And broils root out the work of masonry, 
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn 
The living record of your memory. 
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity 
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room 
Even in the eyes of all posterity 
That wear this world out to the ending doom. 
So, till the judgment that yourself arise, 
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LVI. 



75 



Sweet love, renew thy force ; be it not said 
Thy edge should blunter be than appetite, 
Which but to-day by feeding is allay'd, 
To-morrow sharpened in his former might: 
So, love, be thou ; although to-day thou fill 
Thy hungry eyes even till they wink with fullness, 
To-morrow see again, and do not kill 
The spirit of love with a perpetual dullness. 
Let this sad interim like the ocean be 
Which parts the shore, where two contracted new 
Come daily to the banks, that, when they see 
Return of love, more blest may be the view ; 
Else call it winter, which being full of care 
Makes summer's welcome thrice more wish'd, more 
rare. 

LVII. 

Being your slave, what should I do but tend 
Upon the hours and times of your desire? 
I have no precious time at all to spend, 
Nor services to do, till you require. 
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour 
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you, 
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour 
When you have bid your servant once adieu ; 
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought 
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose, 
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought 
Save, where you are how happy you make those. 
So true a fool is love that in your will, 
Though you do any thing, he thinks no ill. 



7 6 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LVIII. 

That god forbid that made me first your slave, 

I should in thought control your times of pleasure, 

Or at your hand the account of hours to crave, 

Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure ! 

O, let me suffer, being at your beck, 

The imprison'd absence of your liberty; 

And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check, 

Without accusing you of injury. 

Be where you list, your charter is so strong 

That you yourself may privilege your time 

To what you will \ to you it doth belong 

Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime. 

I am to wait, though waiting so be hell ; 

Not blame your pleasure, be it ill or well. 



LIX. 

If there be nothing new, but that which is 
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd, 
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss 
The second burthen of a former child ! 
O, that record could with a backward look, 
Even of five hundred courses of the sun, 
Show me your image in some antique book, 
Since mind at first in character was done ! 
That I might see what the old world could say 
To this composed wonder of your frame ; 
Whether we are mended, or whether better they, 
Or whether revolution be the same. 

O, sure I am, the wits of former days 
■ To subjects worse have given admiring praise. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 77 



LX. 

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, 
So do our minutes hasten to their end ; 
Each changing place with that which goes before, 
In sequent toil all forwards do contend. 
Nativity, once in the main of light, 
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd, 
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, 
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. 
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth 
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow, 
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, 
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow; 
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, 
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand. 



LXI. 

Is it thy will thy image should keep open 

My heavy eyelids to the weary night ? 

Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken, 

While shadows like to thee do mock my sight ? 

Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee 

So far from home into my deeds to pry, 

To find out shames and idle hours in me, 

The scope and tenour of thy jealousy ? 

O, no ! thy love, though much, is not so great : 

It is my love that keeps mine eye awake ; 

Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat, 

To play the watchman ever for thy' sake : 

For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhere, 
From me far off, with others all too near. 



7 8 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXII. 

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye 
And all my soul and all my every part; 
And for this sin there is no remedy, 
It is so grounded inward in my heart. 
Methinks no face so gracious is as mine, 
No shape so true, no truth of such account; 
And for myself mine own worth do define, 
As I all other in all worths surmount. 
But when my glass shows me myself indeed, 
Bated and chopp'd with tann'cl antiquity, 
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read ; 
Self so self-loving were iniquity. 

'T is thee, myself, that for myself I praise, 
Painting my age with beauty of thy days. 



LXIII. 

Against my love shall be, as I am now, 
With Time's injurious hand crush'd and o'erworn, 
When hours have drain'd his blood and fill'd his brow 
With lines and wrinkles, when his youthful morn 
Hath travell'd on to age's steepy night, 
And all those beauties whereof now he's king 
Are vanishing or vanish'd out of sight, 
Stealing away the treasure of his spring — 
For such a time do I now fortify 
Against confounding age's cruel knife, 
That he shall never cut from memory 
My sweet love's beauty, though my lover's life ; 
His beauty shall in these black lines be seen, 
And they shall live, and he in them still green. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXIV. 

When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd 
The rich proud cost of outworn buried age, 
When sometime lofty towers I see down-ras'd 
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage, 
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain 
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore, 
And the firm soil win of the watery main, 
Increasing store with loss and loss with store, — 
When I have seen such interchange of state, 
Or state itself confounded to decay, 
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate, 
That Time will come and take my love away. 
This thought is as a death, which cannot choose 
But weep to have that which it fears to lose. 



LXV. 

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, 
But sad mortality o'er-sways their power, 
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, 
Whose action is no stronger than a flower? 
O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out 
Against the wrackful siege of battering days, 
When rocks impregnable are not so stout, 
Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays? 
O fearful meditation! where, alack, 
Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie hid? 
Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back? 
Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid? 
O, none, unless this miracle have might, 
That in black ink my love may still shine bright. 



79 



8o SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXVI. 

Tir'd with all these, for restful death I cry, — 
As, to behold desert a beggar born, 
And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity, 
And purest faith unhappily forsworn, 
And gilded honour shamefully misplac'd, 
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, 
And right perfection wrongfully disgrac'd, 
And strength by limping sway disabled, 
And art made tongue-tied by authority, 
And folly doctor-like controlling skill, 
And simple truth miscall'd simplicity, 
And captive good attending captain ill; 

Tir'd with all these, from these would I be gone, 
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone. 



LXVII. 

Ah! wherefore with infection should he live 



And with his presence grace impiety, 
That sin by him advantage should achieve 
And lace itself with his society? 
Why should false painting imitate his cheek, 
And steal dead seeing of his living hue ? 
Why should poor beauty indirectly seek 
Roses of shadow, since his rose is true ? 
Why should he live, now Nature bankrupt is, 
Beggar'd of blood to blush through lively veins ? 
For she hath no exchequer now but his, 
And, proud of many, lives upon his gains. 

O, him she stores, to show what wealth she had 
In days long since, before these last so bad ! 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 8 1 



LXVIII. 

Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn, 
When beauty liv'd and died as flowers do now, 
Before these bastard signs of fair were born, 
Or durst inhabit on a living brow ; 
Before the golden tresses of the dead, 
The right of sepulchres, were shorn away, 
To live a second life on second head ; 
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay : 
In him those holy antique hours are seen, 
Without all ornament, itself and true, 
Making no summer of another's green, 
Robbing no old to dress his beauty new; 
And him as for a map doth Nature store, 
To show false Art what beauty was of yore. 

LXIX. 

Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view 

Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend ; 

All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due, 

Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend. 

Thy outward thus with outward praise is crown'd ; 

But those same tongues that give thee so thine own 

In other accents do this praise confound 

By seeing farther than the eye hath shown. 

They look into the beauty of thy mind, 

And that, in guess, they measure by thy deeds ; 

Then, churls, their thoughts, although their eyes were 

kind, 
To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds : 
But why thy odour matcheth not thy show, 
The soil is this, that thou dost common grow. 

F 



g 2 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXX. 

That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect, 
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair ; 
The ornament of beauty is suspect, 
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air. 
So thou be good, slander doth but approve 
Thy worth the greater, being woo'd of time ; 
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love, 
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime. 
Thou hast pass'd by the ambush of young days, 
Either not assail'd or victor being charg'd ; 
Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise, 
To tie up envy evermore enlarg'd; 

If some suspect of ill mask'd not thy show, 

Then thou alone" kingdoms of hearts shouldst owe. 



LXXI. 

No longer mourn for me when I am dead 
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell 
Give warning to the world that I am fled 
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell ; 
Nay, if you read this line, remember not 
The hand that writ it, for I love you so 
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot 
If thinking on me then should make you woe. 
O, if, I say, you look upon this verse 
When I perhaps compounded am with clay, 
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse, 
But let your love even with my life decay, 

Lest the wise world should look into your moan, 
And mock you with me after I am gone. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. g$ 



LXXII. 

O, lest the world should task you to recite 
What merit liv'd in me, that you should love 
After my death, dear love, forget me quite, . 
For you in me can nothing worthy prove; 
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie, 
To do more for me than mine own desert, 
And hang more praise upon deceased I 
Than niggard truth would willingly impart: 
O, lest your true love may seem false in this, 
That you for love speak well of me untrue, 
My name be buried where my body is, 
And live no more to shame nor me nor you ! 
For I am sham'd by that which I bring forth, 
And so should you, to love things nothing worth. 



LXXIII. 

That time of year 'thou mayst in me behold 
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang 
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, 
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. 
In me thou seest the twilight of such day 
As after sunset fadeth in the west, 
Which by and by black night doth take away, 
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. 
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire 
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, 
As the death-bed whereon it must expire, 
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by. 

This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, 
To love that well which thou must leave ere long. 



84 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXXIV. 

But be contented : when that fell arrest 
Without all bail shall carry me away, 
My life hath in this line some interest, 
Which for memorial still with thee shall stay. 
When thou reviewest this, thou dost review 
The very part was consecrate to thee: 
The earth can have but earth, which is his due ; 
My spirit is thine, the better part of me. 
So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life, 
The prey of worms, my body being dead, 
The coward conquest of a wretch's knife, 
Too base of thee to be remembered. 

The worth of that is that which it contains, 
And that is this, and this with thee remains. 



LXXV. 

So are you to my thoughts as food to life, 

Or as sweet-se'ason'd showers are to the ground ; 

And for the peace of you I hold such strife 

As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found : 

Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon 

Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure ; 

Now counting best to be with you alone, 

Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure ; 

Sometime all full with feasting on your sight, 

And by and by clean starved for a look ; 

Possessing or pursuing no delight, 

Save what is had or must from you be took. 

Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, 

Or gluttoning on all, or all away. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNE J S. 



LXXVI. 

Why is my verse so barren of new pride, 
So far from variation or quick change ? 
Why with the time do I not glance aside 
To new-found methods and to compounds strange ? 
Why write I still all one, ever the same, 
And keep invention in a noted weed, 
That every word doth almost tell my name, 
Showing their birth and where they did proceed ? 
O, know, sweet love, I always write of you, 
And you and love are still my argument ; 
So all my best is dressing old words new, 
Spending again what is already spent: 
For as the sun is daily new and old, 
So is my love still tellin-g what is told. 



LXXVII. 

Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear, 
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste ; 
The vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear, 
And of this book this learning mayst thou taste. 
The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show 
Of mouthed graves will give thee memory ; 
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know 
Time's thievish progress to eternity. 
Look, what thy memory can not contain 
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find 
Those children nurs'd, deliver'd from thy brain, 
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind. 
These offices, so oft as thou wilt look, 
Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book. 



85 



86 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXXVIII. 

So oft have I invok'd thee for my Muse, 
And found such fair assistance in my verse, 
As every alien pen hath got my use 
And under thee their poesy disperse. 
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to sing 
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly, 
Have added feathers to the learned's wing 
And given grace a double majesty. 
Yet be most proud of that which I compile, 
Whose influence is thine and born of thee : 
In others' works thou dost but mend the style, 
And arts with thy sweet graces graced be ; 
But thou art all my art, and dost advance 
As high as learning my rude ignorance. 



LXXIX. 

Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid, 
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace, 
But now my gracious numbers are decay'd, 
And my sick Muse doth give another place. 
I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argument 
Deserves the travail of a worthier pen, 
Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent 
He robs thee of and pays it thee again. 
He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word 
From thy behaviour ; beauty doth he give, 
And found it in thy cheek; he can afford 
No praise to thee but what in thee doth live. 
Then thank him not for that which he doth say, 
Since what he owes thee thou thyself dost pay. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 87 



LXXX. 

O, how I faint when I of you do write, 
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, 
And in the praise thereof spends all his might, 
To make me tongue-tied, speaking of your fame ! 
But since your worth, wide as the ocean is, 
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear, 
My saucy bark, inferior far to his, 
On your broad main doth wilfully appear. 
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat, 
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride ; 
Or, being wrack'd, I am a worthless boat, 
He of tall building and of goodly pride. 
Then if he thrive and I be cast away, 
The worst was this, — my love was my decay. 

LXXXI. 

Or I shall live your epitaph to make, 
Or you survive when I in earth am rotten ; 
From hence your memory death cannot take, 
Although in me each part will be forgotten. 
Your name from hence immortal life shall have, 
Though I, once gone, to all the world must die; 
The earth can yield me but a common grave, 
When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie. 
Your monument shall be my gentle verse, 
Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read, 
And tongues to be your being shall rehearse 
When all the breathers of this world are dead ; 
You still shall live — such virtue hath my pen — 
Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of 
men. 



88 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXXXII. 

I grant thou wert not married to my Muse, 
And therefore mayst without attaint o'erlook 
The dedicated words which writers use 
Of their fair subject, blessing every book. 
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue, 
Finding thy worth a limit past my praise, 
And therefore art enforc'd to seek anew 
Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days. 
And do so, love; yet when they have devis'd 
What strained touches rhetoric can lend, 
Thou truly fair wert truly sympathiz'd 
In'true plain words by thy true-telling friend ; 
And their gross painting might be better us'd 
Where cheeks need blood ; in thee it is abus'd, 



LXXXIII. 

I never saw that you did painting need, 
And therefore to your fair no painting set ; 
I found, or thought I found, you did exceed 
The barren tender of a poet's debt ; 
And therefore have I slept in your report, 
That you yourself being extant well might show 
How far a modern quill doth come too short, 
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow. 
This silence for my sin you did impute, 
Which shall be most my glory, being dumb; 
For I impair not beauty being mute, 
When others would give life and bring a tomb. 
There lives more life in one of your fair eyes 
Than both your poets can in praise devise. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXXXIV. 



89 



Who is it that says most ? which can say more 
Than this rich praise, that you alone are you ? 
In whose confine immured is the store 
Which should example where your equal grew. 
Lean penury within that pen doth dwell 
That to his subject lends not some small glory; 
But he that writes of you, if he can tell 
That you are you, so dignifies his story. 
Let him but copy what in you is writ, 
Not making worse what nature made so clear, 
And such a counterpart shall fame his wit, 
Making his style admired every where. 

You to your beauteous blessings add a curse, 
Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse. 



LXXXV. 

My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still, 
While comments of your praise, richly compil'd, 
Reserve their character with golden quill 
And precious phrase by all the Muses fiTd. 
I think good thoughts whilst other write good words, 
And, like unletter'd clerk, still cry ' Amen ' 
To every hymn that able spirit affords 
In polish'd form of well-refined pen. 
Hearing you prais'd, I say ' 'T is so, 't is true/ 
And to the most of praise add something more; 
But that is in my thought, whose love to you, 
Though words come hindmost, holds his rank before. 
Then others for the breath of words respect, 
Me for my dumb thoughts, speaking in effect. 



9o 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXXXVI. 

Was it the proud full sail of his great verse, 
Bound for the prize of all too precious you, 
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse, 
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew ? 
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write 
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead? 
No, neither he, nor his compeers by night 
Giving him aid, my verse astonished. 
He, nor that affable familiar ghost 
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence, 
As victors of my silence cannot boast 3, 
I was not sick of any fear from thence : 

But when your countenance fill'd up his line, 
Then lack'd I matter : that enfeebled mine. 



LXXXVII. 

Farewell ! thou art too dear for my possessing, 
And like enough thou know'st thy estimate: 
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing ; 
My bonds in thee are all determinate. 
For how do I hold thee but by thy granting? 
And for that riches where is my deserving? 
The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting, 
And so my patent back again is swerving. 
Thyself thou gav'st, thy own worth then not knowing, 
Or me, to whom thou gav'st it, else mistaking ; 
So thy great gift, upon misprision growing, 
Comes home again, on better judgment making. 
Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter, 
In sleep a king, but waking no such matter. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



LXXXVIII. 

When thou shalt be disposal to set me light, 
And place my merit in the eye of scorn, 
Upon thy side against myself I '11 fight, 
And prove thee virtuous, though thou art forsworn. 
With mine own weakness being best acquainted, 
Upon thy part I can set down a story 
Of faults conceaPd, wherein I am attainted, 
That thou in losing me shalt win much glory: 
And I by this will be a gainer too ; 
For bending all my loving thoughts on thee, 
The injuries that to myself I do, 
Doing thee vantage, double-vantage me. 
Such is my love, to thee I so belong, 
That for thy right myself will bear all wrong. 



LXXXIX. 

Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault, 
And I will comment upon that offence ; 
Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt, 
Against thy reasons making no defence. 
Thou canst not, love, disgrace me half so ill, 
To set a form upon desired change, 
As I '11 myself disgrace : knowing thy will, 
I will acquaintance strangle and look strange, 
Be absent from thy walks, and in my tongue 
Thy sweet beloved name no more shall dwell, 
Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong 
And haply of our old acquaintance tell. 
For thee against myself I '11 vow debate, 
For I must ne'er love him whom thou dost hate. 



9i 



9 2 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XC. 

Then hate me when thou wilt — if ever, now; 

Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross, 

Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow, 

And do not drop in for an after-loss. 

Ah, do not, when my heart hath scap'd this sorrow, 

Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe ; 

Give not a windy night a rainy morrow, 

To linger out a purpos'd overthrow. 

If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last, 

When other petty griefs' have done their spite, 

But in the onset come; so shall I taste 

At first the very worst of fortune's might, 

And other strains of woe, which now seem woe, 
Compar'd with loss of thee will not seem so. 



XCI. 

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill, 
Some in their wealth, some in their bodies' force, 
Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill, 
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse ; 
And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure, 
Wherein it finds a joy above the rest : 
But these particulars are not my measure ; 
All these I better in one general best. 
Thy love is better than high birth to me, 
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost, 
Of more delight than hawks or horses be; 
And having thee, of all men's pride I boast: 
Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take 
All this away and me most wretched make. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XCII. 

But do thy worst to steal thyself away, 
For term of life thou art assured mine, 
And life no longer than thy love will stay, 
For it depends upon that love of thine. 
Then need I not to fear the worst of wrongs, 
When in the least of them my life hath end. 
I see a better state to me belongs 
Than that which on thy humour doth depend ; 
Thou canst not vex me with inconstant mind, 
Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie. 
O, what a happy title do I find, 
Happy to have thy love, happy to die ! 

But what 's so blessed-fair that fears no blot ? 

Thou mayst be false, and yet I know it not. 



XCIII. 

So shall I live, supposing thou art true, ' 
Like a deceived husband ; so love's face 
May still seem love to me, though alter'd new, 
Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place ; 
For there can live no hatred in thine eye, 
Therefore in that I cannot know thy change. 
In many's looks the false heart's history 
Is writ in moods and frowns and wrinkles strange, 
But heaven in thy creation did decree 
That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell ; 
Whate'er thy thoughts or thy heart's workings be, 
Thy looks should nothing thence but sweetness tell. 
How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow, 
If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show ! 



93 



94 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XCIV. 

They that have power to hurt and will do none, 
That do not do the thing they most do show, 
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, 
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow, 
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces 
And husband nature's riches from expense ; 
They are the lords and owners of their faces, 
Others but stewards of their excellence. 
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet, 
Though to itself it only live and die, 
But if that flower with base infection meet, 
The basest weed outbraves his dignity: 

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; 

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds. 



XCV. 

How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame 
Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose, 
Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name ! 
O, in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose ! 
That tongue that tells the story of thy days, 
Making lascivious comments on thy sport, 
Cannot dispraise but in a kind of praise \ 
Naming thy name blesses an ill report. 
O, what a mansion have those vices got 
Which for their habitation chose out thee, 
Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot, 
And all things turn to fair that eyes can see ! 

Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege; 

The hardest knife ill-us'd doth lose his edge. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



XCVI. 

Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness ; 
Some say thy grace is youth and gentle sport: 
Both grace and faults are lov'd of more and less 
Thou mak'st faults graces that to thee resort. 
As on the finger of a throned queen 
The basest jewel will be well esteem'd, 
So are those errors that in thee are seen 
To truths translated and for true things deem'd. 
How many lambs might the stern wolf betray, 
If like a lamb he could his looks translate ! 
How many gazers mightst thou lead away, 
If thou wouldst use the strength of all thy state ! 
But do not so j I love thee in such sort 
As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report. 



XCVII. 

How like a winter hath my absence been 
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year ! 
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen ! 
What old December's bareness every where ! 
And yet this time remov'd was summer's time, 
The teeming autumn, big with rich increase, 
Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime, 
Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease : 
Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me 
But hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit, 
For summer and his pleasures wait on thee, 
And, thou away, the very birds are mute ; 
Or, if they sing, 't is with so dull a cheer 
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter 's near. 



95 



9 6 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS, 



XCVIII, 

From you have I been absent in the spring, 
When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim 
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing, 
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him. 
Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell 
Of different flowers in odour and in hue 
Could make me any summer's story tell, 
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew \ 
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white, 
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose : 
They were but sweet, but figures of delight, 
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those. 
Yet seem'd it winter still, and, you away, 
As with your shadow I with these did play. 

XCIX. 

The forward violet thus did I chide : 

Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that 

smells, 
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride 
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells 
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed. 
The lily I condemned for thy hand, 
And buds of marjoram had stolen thy hair; 
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand, 
One blushing shame, another white despair; 
A third, nor red nor white, had stolen of both, 
And to his robbery had annex'd thy breath ; 
But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth 
A vengeful canker eat him up to death. 
More flowers I noted, yet I none could see 
But sweet or colour it had stolen from thee. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



97 



Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long 
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might ? 
Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song, 
Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light? 
Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem 
In gentle numbers time so idly spent; 
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem 
And gives thy pen both skill and argument. 
Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey, 
If Time have any wrinkle graven there; 
If any, be a satire to decay, 
And make Time's spoils despised every where. 

Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life ; 

So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife. 



CI. 

O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends 

For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed ? 

Both truth and beauty on my love depends ; 

So dost thou too, and therein dignified. 

Make answer, Muse : wilt thou not haply say 

' Truth needs no colour, with his colour fix'd ; 

Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay; 

But best is best, if never intermix'd ' ? 

Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb? 

Excuse not silence so ; for 't lies in thee 

To make him much outlive a gilded tomb, 

And to be prais'd of ages yet to be. 

Then do thy office, Muse ; I teach thee how 
To make him seem long hence as he shows now, 



98 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CII. 

My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming; 
I love not less, though less the show appear : 
That love is merchandiz'd whose rich esteeming 
The owner's tongue doth publish every where. 
Our love was new and then but in the spring 
When I was wont to greet it with my lays, 
As Philomel in summer's front doth sing 
And stops her pipe in growth of riper days ; 
Not that the summer is less pleasant now 
Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night, 
But that wild music burthens every bough 
And sweets grown common lose their dear delight. 
Therefore like her I sometime hold my tongue, 
Because I would not dull you with my song. 



CHI. 

Alack, what poverty my muse brings forth, 
That having such a scope to show her pride, 
The argument all bare is of more worth 
Than when it hath my added praise beside ! 
O, blame me not, if I no more can write ! 
Look in your glass, and there appears a face 
That overgoes my blunt invention quite, 
Dulling my lines and doing me disgrace. 
Were it not sinful then, striving to mend, 
To mar the subject that before was well? 
For to no other pass my verses tend 
Than of your graces and your gifts to tell ; 

And more, much more, than in my verse can sit 
Your own glass shows you when you look in it. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. gg 



CIV. 

To me, fair friend, you never can be old, 
For as you were when first your eye I eyed, 
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold 
Have from the forests shook three summers' pride, 
Three beauteous* springs to yellow autumn turn'd 
In process of the seasons have I seen, 
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd, 
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green. 
Ah ! yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand, 
Steal from his figure and no pace perceiv'd ; 
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand, 
Hath motion and mine eye may be deceived : 
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred : 
Ere you were born was beauty's summer dead. 



CV. 

Let not my love be calPd idolatry, 
Nor my beloved as an idol show, 
Since all alike my songs and praises be 
To one, of one, still such, and ever so. 
Kind is my love to-day, to-morrow kind, 
Still constant in a wondrous excellence; 
Therefore my verse to constancy confin'd, 
One thing expressing, leaves out difference. 
' Fair, kind, and true ' is all my argument, 
1 Fair, kind, and true ' varying to other words ; 
And in this change is my invention spent, 
Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords. 
' Fair, kind, and true,' have often liv'd alone, 
Which three till now never kept seat in one. 



ioo SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CVL 

When in the chronicle of wasted time 
I see descriptions of the fairest wights, 
And beauty making beautiful old rhyme 
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights, 
Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best, 
Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow, 
I see their antique pen would have express'd 
Even such a beauty as you master now. 
So all their praises are but prophecies 
Of this our time, all you prefiguring; 
And, for they look'd but with divining eyes, 
They had not skill enough your worth to sing: 
For we, which now behold these present days, 
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise. 



CVII. 

Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul 
Of the wide world dreaming on things to come, 
Can yet the lease of my true love control, 
Suppos'd as forfeit to a confin'd doom. 
The mortal moon hath her eclipse endur'd, 
And the sad augurs mock their own presage ; 
Incertainties now crown themselves assur'd, 
And peace proclaims olives of endless age. 
Now with the drops of this most balmy time 
My love looks fresh, and Death to me subscribes, 
Since, spite of him, I '11 live in this poor rhyme, 
While he insults o'er dull and speechless tribes; 
And thou in this shalt find thy monument, 
When tyrants' crests and tombs of brass are spent. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. IO i 



CVIII. 

What 's in the brain that ink may character 
Which hath not figur'd to thee my true spirit ? 
What 's new to speak, what new to register, 
That may express my love or thy clear merit ? 
Nothing, sweet boy ; but yet, like prayers divine, 
I must each day say o'er the very same, 
Counting no old thing old, thou mine, I thine, 
Even as when first I hallow'd thy fair name. 
So that eternal love in love's fresh case 
Weighs not the dust and injury of age, 
Nor gives to necessary wrinkles place, 
But makes antiquity for aye his page, 

Finding the first conceit of love there bred 
Where time and outward form would show it dead. 



CIX. 

O, never say that I was false of heart, 
Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify. 
As easy might I from myself depart 
As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie 
That is my home of love; if I have rang'd, 
Like him that travels I return again, 
Just to the time, not with the time exchang'd, 
So that myself bring water for my stain. 
Never believe, though in my nature reign'd 
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood, 
That it could so preposterously be stain'd, 
To leave for nothing all thy sum of good ; 
For nothing this wide universe I call, 
Save thou, my rose; in it thou art my all. 



I02 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



ex. 



Alas, 't is true I have gone here and there 

And made myself a motley to the view, 

Gor'd mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear. 

Made old offences of affections new; 

Most true it is that I have look'd on truth 

Askance and strangely: but, by all above, 

These blenches gave my heart another youth, 

And worse essays prov'd thee my best of love. 

Now all is done, have what shall have no end; 

Mine appetite I never more will grind 

On newer proof, to try an older friend, 

A god in love, to whom I am confln'd. 

Then give me welcome, next my heaven the best, 
Even to thy pure and most most loving breast. 



CXI. 

O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide, 
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds, 
That did not better for my life provide 
Than public means which public manners breeds. 
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand, 
And almost thence my nature is subdued 
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand. 
Pity me then and wish I were renew'd, 
Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink 
Potions of eisel 'gainst my strong infection ; 
No bitterness that I will bitter think, 
Nor double penance, to correct correction. 
Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye 
Even that your pity is enough to cure me. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. ^3 



CXII. 

Your love and pity doth the impression fill 
Which vulgar scandal stamp'd upon my brow; 
For what care I who calls me well or ill, 
So you o'er-green my bad, my good allow ? 
You are my all the world, and I must strive 
To know my shames and praises from your tongue ; 
None else to me, nor I to none alive, 
That my steel'd sense or changes right or wrong. 
In so profound abysm I throw all care 
Of others' voices, that my adder's sense 
To critic and. to flatterer stopped are. 
Mark how with my neglect I do dispense : 
You are so strongly in my purpose bred 
That all the world besides methinks are dead. 



CXIII. 

Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind, 

And that which governs me to go about 

Doth part his function and is partly blind, 

Seems seeing, but effectually is out; 

For it no form delivers to the heart 

Of bird, of flower, or shape, which it doth latch. 

Of his quick objects hath the mind no part, 

Nor his own vision holds what it doth catch ; 

For if it see the rud'st or gentlest sight, 

The most sweet favour or deformed'st creature, 

The mountain or the sea, the day or night, 

The crow or dove, it shapes them to your feature : 

Incapable of more, replete with you, 

My most true mind thus makes mine eye untrue. 



104 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXIV. 

Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you, 
Drink up the monarch's plague, this flattery? 
Or whether shall I say, mine eye saith true, 
And that your love taught it this alchemy, 
To make of monsters and things indigest 
Such cherubins as your sweet self resemble, 
Creating every bad a perfect best, 
As fast as objects to his beams assemble ? 
O, 't is the first; 't is flattery in my seeing, 
And my great mind most kingly drinks it up : 
Mine eye well knows what with his gust is greeing, 
And to his palate doth prepare the cup ; 
If it be poison'd, 't is the lesser sin 
That mine eye loves it and doth first begin. 



cxv. 

Those lines that I before have writ do lie, 
Even those that said I could not love you dearer; 
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why 
My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer. 
But reckoning time, whose million'd accidents 
Creep in 'twixt vows and change decrees of kings, 
Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents, 
Divert strong minds to the course of altering things, 
Alas, why, fearing of time's tyranny, 
Might I not then say ' Now I love you best,' 
When I was certain o'er incertainty, 
Crowning the present, doubting of the rest? 
Love is a babe; then might I not say so, 
To give full growth to that which still doth grow ? 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXVI. 



105 



Let me not to the marriage of true minds 

Admit impediments. Love is not love 

Which alters when it alteration finds, 

Or bends with the remover to remove: 

O, no ! it is an ever-fixed mark 

That looks on tempests and is never shaken ; 

It is the star to every wandering bark, 

Whose w r orth 's unknown, although his height be taken. 

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come; 

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 

But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 

If this be error and upon me prov'd, 

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd. 



CXVIL 

Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all 
Wherein I should your great deserts repay, 
Forgot upon your dearest love to call, 
Whereto all bonds do tie me day by day ; 
That I have frequent been with unknown minds 
And given to time your own dear-purchas'd right ; 
That I have hoisted sail to all the winds 
W 7 hich should transport me farthest from your sight. 
Book both my wilfulness and errors down, 
And on just proof surmise accumulate; 
Bring me within the level of your frown, 
But shoot not at me in your waken'd hate; 
Since my appeal says I did strive to prove 
The constancy and virtue of your love. 



io6 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXVIII. 

Like as, to make our appetites more keen, 
With eager compounds we our palate urge, 
As, to prevent our maladies unseen, 
We sicken to shun sickness when we purge, 
Even so, being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness, 
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding 
And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness 
To be diseas'd ere that there was true needing. 
Thus policy in love, to anticipate 
The ills that were not, grew to faults assur'd 
And brought to medicine a healthful state 
Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cur'd ; 
But thence I learn, and find the lesson true, 
Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you. 



CXIX. 

What potions have I drunk of Siren tears, 
DistilPd from limbecks foul as hell within, 
Applying fears to hopes and hopes to fears, 
Still losing when I saw myself to win ! 
What wretched errors hath my heart committed, 
Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never ! 
How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted 
In the distraction of this madding fever ! 
O benefit of ill ! now I find true 
That better is by evil still made better; 
And ruin'd love, when it is built anew, 
Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater. 
So I return rebuk'd to my content, 
And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONA T ETS. IQ y 



CXX. 

That you were once unkind befriends me now, 
And for that sorrow which I then did feel 
Needs must I under my transgression bow, 
Unless my nerves were brass or hammer'd steel. 
For if you were by my unkindness shaken 
As I by yours, you've pass'd a hell of time, 
And I, a tyrant, have no leisure taken 
To weigh how once I sufifer'd in your crime. 
O, that our night of woe might have remembered 
My deepest sense, how hard true sorrow hits, 
And soon to you, as you to me, then tender'd 
The humble salve which wounded bosoms fits ! 

But that your trespass now becomes a fee ; 

Mine ransoms yours, and yours must ransom me. 



CXXI. 

'T is better to be vile than vile esteem'd, 
When not to be receives reproach of being, 
And the just pleasure lost which is so deem'd 
Not by our feeling but by others'* seeing; 
For why should others' false adulterate eyes 
Give salutation to my sportive blood ? 
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies, 
Which in their wills count bad what I think good ? 
No, I am that I am, and they that level 
At my abuses reckon up their own : 
I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel ; 
By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown ; 
Unless this general evil they maintain, 
All men are bad, and in their badness reign. 



io8 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXXIL 

Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain 
Full character^ with lasting memory, 
Which shall above that idle rank remain 
Beyond all date, even to eternity; 
Or at the least, so long as brain and heart 
Have faculty by nature to subsist ; 
Till each to raz'd oblivion yield his part 
Of thee, thy record never can be miss'd. 
That poor retention could not so much hold, 
Nor need I tallies thy dear love to score ; 
Therefore to give them from me was I bold, 
To trust those tables that receive thee more : 
To keep an adjunct to remember thee 
Were to import forgetfulness in me. 



CXXIII. 

No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change: 
Thy pyramids built up with newer might 
To me are nothing novel, nothing strange ; 
They are but dressings of a former sight. 
Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire 
What thou dost foist upon us that is old, 
And rather make them born to our desire 
Than think that we before have heard them told. 
Thy registers and thee I both defy, 
Not wondering at the present nor the past, 
For thy records and what we see doth lie, 
Made more or less by thy continual haste. 
This I do vow and this shall ever be : 
I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



109 



CXXIV. 

If my dear love were but the child of. state, 
It might for Fortune's bastard be unfather'd, 
As subject to Time's love or to Time's hate, 
Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gather'd. 
No, it was builded far from accident ; 
It suffers not in smiling pomp, nor falls 
Under the blow of thralled discontent, 
Whereto the inviting time our fashion calls : 
It fears not policy, that heretic, 
Which works on leases of short-number'd hours, 
But all alone stands hugely politic, 
That it nor grows with heat nor drowns with showers. 
To this I witness call the fools of time, 
Which die for goodness, who have liv'd for crime. 



CXXV. 

Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy, 
With my extern the outward honouring, 
Or laid great bases for eternity, 
Which prove more short than waste or ruining? 
Have I not seen dwellers on form and favour 
Lose all, and more, by paying too much rent, 
For compound sweet foregoing simple savour, 
Pitiful thrivers, in their gazing spent? 
No, let me be obsequious in thy heart, 
And take thou my oblation, poor but free, 
Which is not mix'd with seconds, knows no art, 
But mutual render, only me for thee. 

Hence, thou suborn'd informer ! a true soul 
When most impeach'd stands least in thy control. 



IIO SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXXVI. 

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power 
Dost hold Time's fickle glass his fickle hour ; 
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st 
Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow'st ; 
If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack, 
As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back, 
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill 
May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill. 
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure ! 
She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure ; 
Her audit, though delay'd, answer'd must be, 
And her quietus is to render thee. 



CXXVII. 



In the old age black was not counted fair, 
Or if it were, it bore not beauty's name ; 
But now is black beauty's successive heir, 
And beauty slander'd with a bastard shame : 
For since each hand hath put on nature's power, 
Fairing the foul with art's false borrow'd face, 
Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower, 
But is profan'd, if not lives in disgrace. 
Therefore my mistress' brows are raven black, 
Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem 
At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack, 
Slandering creation with a false esteem • 
Yet so they mourn, becoming of their woe, 
That every tongue says beauty should look so. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. m 



CXXVIII. 

How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st, 
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds 
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway'st 
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds, 
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap 
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, 
Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap, 
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand ! 
To be' so tickled, they would change their state 
And situation with those dancing chips, 
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait, 
Making dead wood more blest than living lips. 
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this, 
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss. 



CXXIX. 

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame 

Is lust in action ; and till action, lust 

Is perjur'd, murtherous, bloody, full of blame, 

Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust, 

Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight, 

Past reason hunted, and no sooner had 

Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait 

On purpose laid to make the taker mad ; 

Mad in pursuit and in possession so ; 

Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme ; 

A bliss in proof, and prov'd, a very woe ; 

Before, a joy propos'd ; behind, a dream. 

All this the world well knows ; yet none knows well 
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. 



H2 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



cxxx. 

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun ; 
Coral is far more red than her lips' red \ 
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun ; 
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. 
I have seen roses damask'd, red. and white, 
But no such roses see I in her cheeks ; 
And in some perfumes is there more delight 
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. 
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know 
That music hath a far more pleasing sound ; 
I grant I never saw a goddess go ; 
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground 
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare 
As any she belied with false compare. 



CXXXI. 

Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, 
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel ; 
For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart 
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. 
Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold 
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan : 
To say they err I dare not be so bold, 
Although I swear it to myself alone. 
And, to be sure that is not false I swear, 
A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face, 
One on another's neck, do witness bear 
Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place. 
In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds, 
And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. II3 



CXXXII. 

Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me, 

Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain, 

Have put on black and loving mourners be, 

Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain ; 

And truly not the morning sun of heaven 

Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east, 

Nor that full star that ushers in the even 

Doth half that glory to the sober west, 

As those two mourning eyes become thy face. 

O, let it then as well beseem thy heart 

To mourn for me, since mourning doth thee grace, 

And suit thy pity like in every part ! 

Then will I swear beauty herself is black 
And all they foul that thy complexion lack. 



CXXXIII. 

Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan 
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me ! 
Is 't not enough to torture me alone, 
But slave to slavery my sweet'st friend must be ? 
Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken, 
And my next self thou harder hast engross'd : 
Of him, myself, and thee, I am forsaken \ 
A torment thrice threefold thus to be cross'd. 
Prison my heart in thy steel bosom's ward, 
But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail; 
Whoe'er keeps me, let my heart be his guard ; 
Thou canst not then use rigour in my gaol : 
And yet thou wilt ; for I, being pent in thee, 
Perforce am thine, and all that is in me. 

H 



I 14 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXXXIV. 

So, now I have confess'd that he is thine, 
And I myself am mortgag'd to thy will, 
Myself I '11 forfeit, so that other mine 
Thou wilt restore, to be my comfort still : 
But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free, 
For thou art covetous and he is kind ; 
He learn'd but surety-like to write for me 
Under that bond that him as fast doth bind. 
The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take, 
Thou usurer, that put'st forth all to use, 
And sue a friend came debtor for my sake ; 
So him I lose through my unkind abuse. 

Him have I lost ; thou hast both him and me 
He pays the whole, and yet am I not free. 



cxxxv. 

Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy 'Will/ 
And ' Will ' to boot, and ' Will ' in overplus ; 
More than enough am I that vex thee still, 
To thy sweet will making addition thus. 
Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious, 
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine? 
Shall will in others seem right gracious, 
And in my will no fair acceptance shine ? 
The sea, all water, yet receives rain still 
And in abundance addeth to his store ; 
So thou, being rich in < Will,' add to thy ' Will ' 
One will of mine, to make thy large ' Will ' more. 

Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill ; 

Think all but one, and me in that one ' Will/ 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. nj 



CXXXVI. 

If thy soul check thee that I come so near, 
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy ' Will/ 
And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there ; 
Thus far for love my love-suit, sweet, fulfil. 
'Will ' will fulfil the treasure of thy love, 
Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one. 
In things of great receipt with ease we prove 
Among a number one is reckon'd none : 
Then in the number let me pass untold, 
Though in thy store's account I one must be ; 
For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold 
That nothing me, a something sweet to thee : 
Make but my name thy love, and love that still, 
And then thou lov'st me, for my name is ' Will.' 



CXXXVII. 

Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes, 

That they behold, and see not what they see? 

They know what beauty is, see where it lies, 

Yet what the best is take the worst to be. 

If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks 

Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride, 

Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks, 

Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied? 

Why should my heart think that a several plot 

Which my heart knows the wide world's common place ? 

Or mine eyes seeing this, say this is not, 

To put fair truth upon so foul a face ? 

In things right true my heart and eyes have err'd, 
And to this false plague are they now transferred. 



Ii6 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXXXVIII. 

When my love swears that she is made of truth 
I do believe her, though I know she lies, 
That she might think me some untutor'd youth, 
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties. 
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, 
Although she knows my days are past the best, 
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue; 
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd. 
But wherefore says she not she is unjust? 
And wherefore say not I that I am old ? 
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust, 
And age in love loves not to have years told; 
Therefore I lie with her and she with me, 
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be. 



CXXXIX. 

O, call not me to justify the wrong 
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart ; 
Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue ; 
Use power with power, and slay me not by art. 
Tell me thou lov'st elsewhere, but in my sight, 
Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye aside; 
What need'st thou wound with cunning when thy might 
Is more than my o'er-press'd defence can bide ? 
Let me excuse thee : ah ! my love well knows 
Her pretty looks have been mine enemies, 
And therefore from my face she turns my foes, 
That they elsewhere might dart their injuries ; 
Yet do not so, but since I am near slain 
Kill me outright with looks and rid my pain. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXL. 



117 



Be wise as thou art cruel ; do not press 
My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain, 
Lest sorrow lend me words, and words express 
The manner of my pity-wanting pain. 
If I might teach thee wit, better it were, 
Though not to love, yet, love, to tell me so, 
As testy sick men, when their deaths be near, 
No news but health from their physicians know ; 
For if I should despair, I should grow mad, 
And in my madness might speak ill of thee : 
Now thi-s ill-wresting world is grown so bad, 
Mad slanderers by mad ears believed be. 

That I may not be so, nor thou belied, 

Bear thine eyes straight, though thy proud heart go 
wide. 

CXLI. 

In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, 
For they in thee a thousand errors note, 
But 't is my heart that loves what they despise, 
Who in despite of view is pleas'd to dote ; 
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted, 
Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone, 
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited 
To any sensual feast with thee alone : 
But my five wits nor my five senses can 
Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee, 
Who leaves unsway'd the likeness of a man, 
Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be ; 
Only my plague thus far I count my gain, 
That she that makes me sin awards me pain. 



n8 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXLII. 

Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate, 
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving: 
O, but with mine compare thou thine own state, 
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving ; 
Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine, 
That have profan'd their scarlet ornaments 
And seal'd false bonds of love as oft as mine, 
Robb'd others' beds' revenues of their rents. 
Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lov'st those 
Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee; 
Root pity in thy heart, that when it grows 
Thy pity may deserve to pitied be. 

If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide, 
By self-example mayst thou be denied ! 



CXLIII. 

Lo ! as a careful housewife runs to catch 
One of her feather'd creatures broke away, 
Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch 
In pursuit of the thing she would have stay, 
Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase, 
Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent 
To follow that which flies before her face, 
Not prizing her poor infant's discontent ; 
So runn'st thou after that which flies from thee, 
Whilst I thy babe chase thee afar behind : 
But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me, 
And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind ; 
So will I pray that thou mayst have thy ' Will, 5 
If thou turn back, and my loud crying still. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXLIV. 

Two loves I have of comfort and despair, 
Which like two spirits do suggest me still ; 
The better angel is a man right fair, 
The worser spirit a woman colour'd ill. 
To win me soon to hell, my female evil 
Tempteth my better angel from my side, 
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil, 
Wooing his purity with her foul pride. 
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend 
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell ; 
But being both from me, both to each friend, 
I guess one angel in another's hell : 

Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt, 
Till my bad angel fire my good one out. 



CXLV. 

Those lips that Love's own hand did make 
Breathed forth the sound that said ' I hate ' 
To me that languish'd for her sake; 
But when she saw my woeful state, 
Straight in her heart did mercy come, 
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet 
Was us'd in giving gentle doom, 
And taught it thus anew to greet. 
' I hate ' she alter'd with an end, 
That follow'd it as gentle day 
Doth follow night, who like a fiend 
From heaven to hell is flown away ; 
i I hate ' from hate away she threw, 
And sav'd my life, saying ' not you.' 



119 



120 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CXLVI. 

Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth, 
Press'd by these rebel powers that thee array, 
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth, 
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay? 
Why so large cost, having so short a lease, 
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend ? 
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess, 
Eat up thy charge ? is this thy body's end ? 
Then, soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss, 
And let that pine to aggravate thy store ; 
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross ; 
Within be fed, without be rich no more : 

So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men, 
And Death once dead, there 's no more dying then. 



CXLVII. 

My love is as a fever, longing still 

For that which longer nurseth the disease, 

Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, 

The uncertain sickly appetite to please. 

My reason, the physician to my love, 

Angry that his prescriptions are not kept, 

Hath left me, and I desperate now approve 

Desire is death, which physic did except. 

Past cure I am, now reason is past care, 

And frantic-mad with evermore unrest ; 

My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are, 

At random from the truth vainly express'd ; 

For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright, 
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. I2I 



CXLVIII. 

O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head, 
Which have no correspondence with true sight ! 
Or, if they have, where is my judgment fled, 
That censures falsely what they see aright ? 
If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote, 
What means the world to say it is not so? 
If it be not, then love doth well denote 
Love's eye is not so true as all men's no. 
How can it ? O, how can Love's eye be true, 
That is so vex'd with watching and with tears? 
No marvel then, though I mistake my view; 
The sun itself sees not till heaven clears. 

O cunning Love ! with tears thou keep'st me blind, 
Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should find. 



CXLIX. 

Canst thou, O cruel ! say I love thee not, 
When I against myself with thee partake ? 
Do I not think on thee, when I forgot 
Am of myself, all tyrant, for thy sake? 
Who hateth thee that I do call my friend ? 
On whom frown'st thou that I do fawn upon ? 
Nay, if thou lower'st on me, do I not spend 
Revenge upon myself with present moan? 
What merit do I in myself respect, 
That is so proud thy service to despise, 
When all my best doth worship thy defect, 
Commanded by the motion of thine eyes? 

But, love, hate on, for now I know thy mind ; 

Those that can see thou lov'st, and I am blind. 



122 SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CL. 

O, from what power hast thou this powerful might 
With insufficiency my heart to sway? 
To make me give the lie to my true sight, 
And swear that brightness doth not grace the day? 
Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill, 
That in the very refuse of thy deeds 
There is such strength and warrantise of skill 
That, in my mind, thy worst all best exceeds ? 
Who taught thee how to make me love thee more 
The more I hear and see just cause of hate? 
O, though I love what others do abhor, 
With others thou shouldst not abhor my state; 
If thy unworthiness rais'd love in me, 
More worthy I to be belov'd of thee. 



CLI. 

Love is too young to know what conscience is ; 
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love ? 
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss, 
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove; 
For, thou betraying me, I do betray 
My nobler part to my gross body's treason ; 
My soul doth tell my body that he may 
Triumph in love ; flesh stays no farther reason, 
But, rising at thy name, doth point out thee 
As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride, 
He is contented thy poor drudge to be, 
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side. 
No want of conscience hold it that I call 
Her ' love ' for whose dear love I rise and fall. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 12 <$ 



CLII. 

In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn, 
But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing, 
In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn 
In vowing new hate after new love bearing. 
But why of two oaths' breach do I accuse thee, 
When I break twenty ? I am perjur'd most ; 
For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee, 
And all my honest faith in thee is lost : 
For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness, 
Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy, 
And, to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindness, 
Or made them swear against the thing they see ; 
For I have sworn thee fair; more perjur'd I, 
To swear against the truth so foul a lie ! 



CLIII. 

Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep : 
A maid of Dian's this advantage found, 
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep 
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground ; 
Which borrow'd from this holy fire of Love 
A dateless lively heat, still to endure, 
And grew a seething bath, which yet men prove 
Against strange maladies a sovereign cure. 
But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new-fir'd, 
The boy for trial needs would touch my breast ; 
I, sick withal, the help of bath desir'd, 
And thither hied, a sad distemper'd guest, 
But found no cure : the bath for my help lies 
Where Cupid got new lire — my mistress' eyes. 



124 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



CLIV. 

The little Love-god lying once asleep 
Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand, 
Whilst many nymphs that vow'd chaste life to keep 
Came tripping by ; but in her maiden hand 
The fairest votary took up that fire 
Which many legions of true hearts had warm'd, 
And so the general of hot desire 
Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarm'd. 
This brand she quenched in a cool well by, 
Which from Love's fire took heat perpetual, 
Growing a bath and healthful remedy 
For men diseas'd; but I, my mistress' thrall, 
Came there for cure, and this by that I prove, 
Love's fire heats water, water cools not love. 




*>:*' 



NOTES. 



ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES. 

Abbott (or Gr.), Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar (third edition). 
A. S., Anglo-Saxon. 

A. V., Authorized Version of the Bible (1611). 

B. and F., Beaumont and Fletcher. 
B. J., Ben Jonson. 

Camb. ed., " Cambridge edition" of Shakespeare, edited by Clark and Wright. 
Cf. {confer), compare. 
Coll., Collier (second edition). 
D., Dyce (second edition). 

Dowden, Prof. E. Dowden's eds. of the Sonnets (see p. 11, foot-note, above). 
Gildon, Chas. Gildon's ed. of Shakespeare's Poems (London, 17 10). 
H., Hudson ("Harvard" edition). 
Halliwell, J. O. Halliwell (folio ed. of Shakespeare). 
Id. {idem), the same. 
K., Knight (second edition). 

Lintott, the 1709 ed. of the Poems (see p. 10 above). 

Massey, Gerald Massey's Shakespeare's Sonnets, etc. (London, 1866). Cf. p. 21 above. 
Nares, Glossary, edited by Halliwell and Wright (London, 1859). 
Palgrave, F. T. Palgrave's ed. of Shakespeare's Songs and Sonnets (London, 1879). 
Prol., Prologue. 
S., Shakespeare. 

Schmidt, A. Schmidt's Shakespeare- Lexicon (Berlin, 1874). 
Sewell, Geo. Sewell's ed. of the Poems (7th vol. of Pope's ed. of 1725). 
Sr., Singer. 
St., Staunton. 
Theo., Theobald. 
W., R.Grant White. 

Walker, Wm. Sidney Walker's Critical Examination of the Text of Shakespeare 
(London, i860). 
Warb., Warburton. 

Wb., Webster's Dictionary (revised quarto edition of 1879). 
Wore, Worcester's Dictionary (quarto edition). 

The abbreviations of the names of Shakespeare's Plays will be readily understood ; as 
T. N. for Twelfth Night, Cor. for Coriolanus, 3 Hen. VI. for The Third Part of King 
Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to The Passionate Pilgrim ; V. and A . to Venus 
and Adonis; L. C. to Lover's Complaint ; and Sonn. to the Sonnets. 

When the abbreviation of the name of a play is followed by a reference to Page, 
Rolfe's edition of the play is meant. The numbers of the lines in the references are 
those of the " Globe " ed. 



NOTES. 







The Dedication.— The only begetter. Boswell remarks: "The be- 
getter is merely the person who gets or procures a thing. So in Dekker's 
Satiromastix : ' I have some cousin-germans at court shall beget you the 
reversion of the master of the king's revels.' W. H. was probably one 
of the friends to whom Shakespeare's ■ sugred sonnets,' as they are termed 
by Meres, had been communicated, and who furnished the printer with 



128 NOTES. 

his copy." W. says : " This dedication is not written in the common 
phraseology of its period ; it is throughout a piece of affectation and elab- 
orate quaintness, in which the then antiquated prefix be- might be expect- 
ed to occur ; beget being used for get, as Wiclif uses betook for took in Mark, 
xv. i : * And ledden him and betoken him to Pilate.' " Cf. Gr. 438. 

Sonnet I. — As Boswell and Boaden note, this and the following son- 
nets are only an expansion of V. and A. 169-174 : " Upon the earth's in- 
crease why shouldst thou feed," etc. 

" Herr Krauss [Shakespeare- Jahrbuch, 1881) cites, as a parallel to the 
arguments in favour of marriage in these sonnets, the versified dialogue 
between Geron and Histor at the close of Sidney's Arcadia, lib. hi." 
(Dowden). 

2. Rose. In the quarto the word is printed in italics and with a capi- 
tal. See on 20. 8 below. 

6. Self- substantial fuel. "Fuel of the substance of the flame itself" 
(Dowden). 

10. Gaudy. Gay and showy. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 812 : "Nip not the 
gaudy blossoms of your love," etc. 

12. Mak'st zvaste in niggardiug. Cf. R. and J.\. 1. 223 : 

" Benvolio. Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste? 
Romeo. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste." 

13. Pity the world, etc. " Pity the world, or else be a glutton, devour- 
ing the world's due, by means of the grave (which will else swallow your 
beauty — cf. Sonn. 77. 6) and of yourself, who refuse to beget offspring" 
(Dowden). Steevens conjectured " be thy grave and thee " = " be at once 
thyself and thy grave." 

II. — "IviSowt. 1 the Friend is 'contracted to his own bright eyes;' 
such a marriage is fruitless, and at forty the eyes will be * deep-sunken.' 
The 'glutton' of 1 reappears here in the phrase 'all-eating shame;' the 
'makest waste' of 1 reappears in the 'thriftless praise' of 2. If the 
youth addressed were now to marry, at forty he might have a son of his 
present age, that is, about twenty" (Dowden) * 

4. Tatter 'd. The quarto has "totter'd," as in 26. 1 1 below. Cf. K. 
John, p. 178, note on Tottering. For weed (^garment), see M. N. D. 
p. 149. 

* We reprint Dowden 1 s introductory notes to each sonnet, but we must call attention 
here to his own comments upon them : 

" Repeated perusals have convinced me that the Sonnets stand in the right order, and 
that sonnet is connected with sonnet in more instances than have been observed. My 
notes on each sonnet commonly begin with an attempt to point out the little links or 
articulations in thought and word, which connect it with its predecessor or the group to 
which it belongs. I frankly warn the reader that I have pushed this kind of criticism 
far, perhaps too far. I have perhaps in some instances fancied points of connection 
which have no real existence ; some I have set down, which seem to myself conjectural. 
After this warning, I ask the friendly reader not to grow too soon impatient: and if, go- 
ing through the text carefully, he will consider for himself the points which I have noted, 
I have a hope that he will in many instances see reason to agree with what I have 
said." 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



129 



8. Thriftless. Unprofitable ; as in T. N. ii. 2. 40 : " What thriftless 
sighs shall poor Olivia breathe !" 

11. Shall sum my count, etc. " Shall complete my account, and serve * 
as the excuse of my oldness " (Dowden). Hazlitt reads " whole " for old. 

III. — " A proof by example of the truth set forth in 2. Here is a par- 
ent finding in a child the excuse for age and wrinkles. But here that 
parent is the mother. Were the father of Shakspere's friend living, it 
would have been natural to mention him : 13. 14 'you had a father' con- 
firms our impression that he was dead. 

" There are two kinds of mirrors — first, that of glass ; secondly, a child 
who reflects his parent's beauty " (Dowden). 

5. linear* d. Unploughed. Cf. Rich. II. p. 192, note on Ear. For the 
figure, cf. A. and C. ii. 2. 233 : " He plough'd her, and she cropp'd." 
Steevens quotes M.for M. i. 4. 43. W. aptly remarks that the expres- 
sion is " the converse of the common metaphor ' virgin soil.' " 

7. Fond. Foolish ; the usual meaning in S. Cf. M. N. D. p. 163. 
For the passage Malone compares V. and A. 757-761. 

9. Thy mother's glass, etc. Cf. R. of L. 1758, where Lucretius says : 

" Poor broken glass, I often did behold 
In tby sweet semblance my old age new-born." 

11. Windows of thine age. Malone quotes L. C. 14: "Some beauty 
peep'd through lattice of sear'd age." 
13. Live. Capell conjectures "love." 

IV. — " In Sonn. 3 Shakspere has viewed his friend as an inheritor 
of beauty from his mother ; this legacy of beauty is now regarded as the 
bequest of nature. The ideas of unthriftiness (1) and niggardliness (5) 
are derived from Sonn. 1, 2 ; the 'audit' (12) is another form of the 'sum 
my count' of 2. 11. The new idea introduced in this Sonnet is that of 
usury, which reappears in 6. 5, 6 " (Dowden). 

3. Nature's bequest, etc. Dowden quotes M.for M. i. 1. 36: 

" Spirits are not finely touch'd 
But to fine issues, nor Nature never lends 
The smallest scruple of her excellence 
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines 
Herself the glory of a creditor, 
Both thanks and use." 

Steevens compares Milton, Comus, 679 : 

" Why should you be so cruel to yourself, 
And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent 
For gentle usage, and soft delicacy? 
But you invert the covenants of her trust, 
And harshly deal, like an ill borrower, 
With that which you receiv'd on other terms." 

''See also Id. 720-727. 

4. Free. Liberal, bountiful. Cf. T. and C. iv. 5. 100: " His heart and 
hand both open and both free," etc. 

8. Live. Subsist. "With all your usury you have not a livelihood, 

I 



1 3 o NOTES. 

for, trafficking only with yourself, you put a cheat upon yourself, and win 
nothing by such usury" (Dowden). 

12. Audit. Printed in italics and with a capital in the quarto. See 
on i. 2 above. Acceptable (note the accent) is used by S. nowhere else. 

14. TW executor. Malone reads " thy executor " (the conjecture of 
Capell). 

V. — " In Sonn. 5 and 6, youth and age are compared to the seasons of 
the year; in 7, they are compared to morning and evening, the seasons 
of the day" (Dowden). 

1. Hours. A dissyllable. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. p. 151. Gr. 480. 

2. Gaze. Object gazed at ; as in Macb. v. 8. 24 : " Live to be the show 
and gaze o' the time." 

4. And that unfair, etc. "And render that which was once beautiful 
no longer fair " (Malone). Unfair is the only instance of the verb (or the 
word) in S. QL fairing in 127.6 below. 

6. Confounds. Destroys. Cf. 60. 8, 64. 10, and 69. 7 below. 

8. Bareness. Sewell (2d ed.) has " barrenness." Cf. 97. 4 below. * 

9. Distillation. Perfumes distilled from flowers. Malone compares 
Sonn. 54 and M. N. D. i. 1. 76 : " Earthlier happy is the rose distill'd," etc. 

II. Bereft. Taken away, lost. 

14. Leese. "Lose" (Sewell's reading). Dowden notes that the word 
occurs in 1 Kings, xviii. 5, in the ed. of 161 1 {lose in modern eds.). 

VI. — " This sonnet carries on the thoughts of 4 and 5 — the distilling 
of perfumes from the former, and the interest paid on money from the 
latter " (Dowden). 

I. Ragged. Rugged, rough. See A. Y. L. p. 160. 

5. Use. Interest. Cf. V. and A. 768 : " But gold that 's put to use 
more gold begets ;" and see also 134. 10 below. 

6. Happies. Makes happy; the only instance of the verb in S. 

13. SelfwiWd. Delius conjectures "self-kill'd." 

VII. — " After imagery drawn from summer and winter, S. finds new 
imagery in morning and evening" (Dowden). 

7. Yet mortal looks adore, etc. Malone quotes R. and jf.\. 1. 125 : 

"Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun 
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east." 

10. Recleth. Dowden quotes R. and J. ii. 3. 3 : 

"And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels 
From forth day's path." 

11. Fore. So in the quarto ; '"fore" in the modern eds. Cf. Heft. V. 
p. 155. Converted^ turned away ; as in 11. 4 below. 

On the passage, Dowden compares T. of A. i. 2. 150 : " Men shut their 
doors against a setting sun." 

13. Thyself, etc. " Passing beyond your zenith" (Dowden). 

VIII. — 1. Music to hear. Thou, to hear whom is music. Malone 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 1 $ l 

thought S. might have written "Music to ear " = " Thou whose every 
accent is music to the ear." 

14. Wilt prove none. Perhaps, as Dowden suggests, an allusion to the 
proverbial expression that " one is no number/' Cf. 136. 8 : " Among a 
number one is reckon'd none." See also R. and J. p. 146, note on 32. 
The meaning seems to be that " since many make but one, one will prove 
also less than itself, that is, will prove none." 

IX. — " The thought of married happiness in 8 — husband, child, and 
mother united in joy — suggests its opposite, the grief of a weeping wid- 
ow. ' Thou single wilt prove none ' 01 8. 14 is carried on in ' consum'st 
thyself in single life ' of 9. 2 " (Dowden). 

4. Makeless. Without a make y or mate. For make, cf. Spenser, F. Q. 
iii. II. 2: "That was as trew in love as Turtle to her make ;" Id. iv. 2. 
30 : " And each not farre behinde him had his make," etc. In Ben Jon- 
son's New In?i, the Host forms a hieroglyphic to express the proverb 
"A heavy purse makes a light heart," which he interprets thus : 

"There 't is exprest ! first, by a purse of gold, 
A heavy purse, and then two turtles, makes, 
A heart with a light stuck in 't, a light heart." 

9. Unthrift. Prodigal ; as in 13. 13 below. In Rich. II. ii. 3. 122, the 
only other instance of the noun in S., it is —good-for-nothing. 

10. His. Its ; referring to what. 

12. The user. The one having the use of it, the possessor. Sewell 
reads " the us'rer." 

X. — " The ' murtherous shame ' of 9. 14 reappears in the * For shame !' 
and ' murtherous hate ' of 10. In 9 Shakspere denies that his friend loves 
any one ; he carries on the thought in the opening of 10, and this leads 
up to his friend's love of Shakspere, which is first mentioned in this son- 
net" (Dowden). 

7. Ruinate, etc. Cf. R. of L. 944: "To ruinate proud buildings," etc. 
The meaning is, "seeking to bring to ruin that house (that is, family) 
which it ought to be your chief care to repair." As Dowden adds, " these 
lines confirm the conjecture that the father of Shakspere's friend was 
dead." Cf. 13. 9-14 below. For the figure, cf. also 3 Hen. VI. v. 1. 83 
and T. G. of V. v. 4. 9. 

9. Thy thought. Thy purpose of not marrying. 

XI. — "The first five lines enlarge on the thought (10. 14) of beauty 
living ' in thine ;' showing how the beauty of a child may be called thine " 
(Dowden). 

2. Departest. From may be understood, the preposition (Gr. 394) be- 
ing often omitted in relative sentences when it has been previously ex- 
pressed ; or the verb may be transitive, as in 2 Hen. IF. iv. 5. 91 : " De- 
part the chamber," etc. 

4. Convertest. Dost turn away. Cf. 7. 11 above and 14. 12 below. 
Note the rhyme with departest, and see also 14. 12, 17. 2, 49. 10, and 72. 6 
below. 



132 



NOTES. 



7. The times. " The generations of men " (Dowden). 

9. For store. "To be preserved for use" (Malone). Schmidt makes 
store — " increase of men, fertility, population." 

11. Look, whom she best endowed, etc. To whom she gave much she 
gave more. Cf. Matt. xiii. 12: "For whosoever hath, to him shall be 
given, and he shall have more abundantly." Sewell (1st ed.), Malone, 
St., Delius, and H. read "gave thee more;" making whom she best m- 
dow\i=" however liberal she may have been to others" (Malone). 

14. Nor let that copy die. Malone compares T. A r . i. 5. 261 : 

" Lady, you are the cruell'st she alive, 
If you will lead these graces to the grave 
And leave the world no copy." 

XII. — "This sonnet seems to be a gathering into one of 5, 6, and 7. 
Lines 1, 2, like Sonn. 7, speak of the decay and loss of the brightness and 
beauty of the day ; lines 3-8, like Sonn. 5 and 6, of the loss of the sweets 
and beauties of the year " (Dowden). 

2. Brave. Beautiful. Cf. 15. 8 below. See also Ham. ii. 2. 312 : "this 
brave o'erhanging firmament," etc. 

3. Violet past prime. Dowden compares Ham. i. 3. 7 : "A violet in 
the youth of primy nature." 

4. Sable curls all silver 'd. The quarto has "or siluer'd ;" corrected 
by Malone. The Camb. ed. notes an anonymous conjecture, "o'er-sil- 
vered with white." Steevens compares Ham. i. 2. 242 : 

" It was, as I have seen it in his life, 
A sable silver'd;" 

referring to the Ghost's beard. 

8. Beard. Capell (" C." in the Var. of 1821) quotes M. N. D. ii. 1. 95 : 

"the green corn 
Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard." 

9. Question make. Consider. Elsewhere it is = doubt ; as in ^f. of V. 
i. I. 156, 184, L. C. 321, etc. 

14. Save breed, etc. " Except children, whose youth may set the scythe 
of Time at defiance, and render thy own death less painful " (Malone). 

XIII. — " Shakspere imagines his friend in 12. 14, borne away by Time. 
It is only while he lives here that he is his own (1, 2). Note you and 
your instead of thy, thine, and the address my love for the first time " 
(Dowden). Cf. p. 27 above. 

1. Yourself. That is, master of yourself; as the context show's. 

5. Beauty which you hold in lease. Malone compares Daniel's Delia, 47 : 

"in beauty's lease expired appears 
The date of age, the calends of our death." 

6. Determination. End ; the legal sense. On the passage, cf. V. and 
A. 171 fol. 

10. Husbandry. Economy, thrift. Cf. Macb. p. 183. 
13. Unthrifts. See on 9. 9 above. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



*33 



14. You had a father. Dowden compares A. W. i. 1. 19 : "This young 
gentlewoman had a father — O, that * had !' how sad a passage 't is !" See 
on 10. 7 above. 

XIV. — " In 13 S. predicts stormy winter and the cold of death ; he 
now explains what his astrology is, and at the close of the sonnet repeats 
his melancholy prediction" (Dowden). 

I, 2. Dowden quotes Sidney, Arcadia, book iii. : "O sweet Philoclea, 
. . . thy heavenly face is my astronomy ;" and Astrophel and Stella (ed. 
1591), Sonn. 26:" 

"Though dusty wits dare scorn astrology 

* # # * # 

[I] oft forejudge my after-following race 
By only those two stars in Stella's face. 1 ' 

So Daniel, Delia, 30 (on Delia's eyes) : 

11 Stars are they sure, whose motions rule desires ; 
And calm and tempest follow their aspects." 

6. Pointing. Pointing out, appointing. See T. of S. p. 148. Cf. Bacon, 
Essay 45 (ed. of 1625): " But this to be, if you doe not point, any of the 
lower Roomes, for a Dining Place of Servants ;" and Essay 58: "Point- 
ing Daves for Pitched Fields," etc. His — its ; as in 9. 10 above. 

8. Oft predict. Frequent prediction or prognostication. Sewell reads 
"ought predict" ( = anything predicted). 

9. From thine eyes, etc. Steevens quotes L. L. L. iv. 3. 350 : " From 
women's eyes this doctrine I derive," etc. 

11-14. Dowden puts Truth . . . conve?'t and Thy end . . . date in quo- 
tation marks, explaining read such art as =" gather by reading such 
truths of science as the following." 

12. Store. See on 11. 9 above. Malone paraphrases thus : "If thou 
wouldst change thy single state, and beget a numerous progeny." 

Convert here rhymes with art, as in Daniel's Delia, II, with heart (Dow- 
den). See on n. 4 above, and cf. R. of L. 592. 

XV. — " Introduces Verse as an antagonist of Time. The stars in 14 
determining weather, plagues, dearths, and fortune of princes reappear 
in 15. 4, commenting in secret influence on the shows of this world" 
(Dowden). 

3. Stage. Malone reads "state ;" but, as Dowden notes, the theatrical 
words presenteth (see M. N. D. p. 156) and shows confirm the old text. 

9. Conceit. Conception, imagination; as in 108. 13 below. Cf. Ham. 
p. 238. 

II. Debateth. Combats, contends. Malone quotes A. W. i. 2. 75 : 

"nature and sickness 
Debate it at their leisure." 

Schmidt may be right in putting the present passage under debate— dSs>- 
cuss. Dowden hesitates between the two explanations. 



134 NOTES. 

XVI. — "The gardening image engraft in 15. 14 suggests the thought 
of ' maiden gardens ' and ■ living flowers ' of this sonnet " (Dovvden). 

6. Maiden gardens, yet unset. M alone compares L. C. 171 : "Heard 
where his plants in others' orchards grew." 

7. Bear your living flowers. Lintott, Gildon, Malone, H., and others 
change your to "you ;" but, as Dowden says, " your living floivers stands 
over against your painted counterfeit." 

8. Much liker, etc. Much more like you than your painted portrait 
is. For counterfeit, cf. M. of V. p. 1 50. 

9. Lines of life. Probably = " living pictures, that is, children" (an 
anonymous explanation in the Var. of 1821). Dowden remarks : "The 
unusual expression is selected because it suits the imagery of the sonnet, 
lines applying to ( I ) lineage, (2) delineation with a pencil, a portrait, 
(3) lines of verse, as in 18. 12. Lines of life are living lines, living poems 
and pictures, children." H. reads "line of life," which he makes = 
"living line, or lineage." 

10. This time's pencil. We are inclined to think this is —any painter 
of the time. Massey supposes that some particular artist is referred to, 
perhaps Mirevelt, who painted the Earl of Southampton's portrait. 
The quarto reads "this (Times pensel or my pupill pen)," etc., and the 
modern eds. generally read "this, Time's pencil," etc. Dowden asks: 
"Are we to understand the line as meaning ' Which this pencil of Time 
or this my pupil pen ;' and is Time here conceived as a limner who has 
painted the youth so fair, but whose work cannot last for future genera- 
tions? In 19 ' Devouring Time' is transformed into a scribe; may not 
1 tyrant Time ' be transformed here into a painter ? In 20 it is Nature 
who paints the face of the beautiful youth. This masterpiece of twenty 
years can endure neither as painted by Time's pencil, nor as represented 
by Shakspere's unskilful, pupil pen. Is the painted counterfeit Shakspere's 
portrayal in his verse ? Cf. 53. 5." 

11. Fair. Beauty. Cf. 18. 7, 68. 3, and S^. 2 below. 

XVII. — " In 16 Shakspere has said that his ' pupil pen ' cannot make 
his friend live to future ages. He now carries on this thought ; his verse, 
although not showing half his friend's excellencies, will not be believed 
in times to come " (Dowden). 

2. Deserts. For the rhyme withparts, see on 14. 12 above. Cf. 72. 6 below. 

12. Stretched metre. "Overstrained poetry " (Dowden). Keats took 
this line for the motto of his Endymion. 

13. 14. "If a child were alive his beauty would verify the descriptions 
in Shakspere's verse, and so the friend would possess a twofold life, in 
his child and in his poet's rhyme " (Dowden). 

XVIII. — " Shakspere takes heart, expects immortality for his verse, 
and so immortality for his friend as surviving in it" (Dowden). 

3. Rough winds do shake, etc. Malone quotes Cymb. i. 3. 36 : 

"And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north, 
Shakes all our buds from growing;" 

and T. of S. v. 2. 140: "as whirlwinds shake fair buds." 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 135 

5. Eye of heaven. Cf. Rich. II. iii. 2. 37 : " the searching eye of heaven ;" 
and R. of L. 356 : "The eye of heaven is out." 

7. Fair. Beauty. See on 16. 11 above. So in 10 below, fair thou 
vwest= beauty thou possessest. For owe, cf. 70. 14 below. 

14. So long lives (his. This anticipation of immortality for their works 
was a common conceit with the poets of the time. Cf. Spenser, Amoretti, 
27, 69, 95 ; Drayton, Idea, 6, 44 ; Daniel, Delia, 39, etc. 

XIX. — " Shakspere, confident of the immortality of his friend in verse, 
defies Time " (Dowden). 

1. Devouring. Walker conjectures " Destroying." 

4. Phoenix. For allusions to the phcenix in S., see A. Y. L. p. 189, 
note on 17. 

5. Fleets. The quarto has " fleet'st ;" but the analogy of 8. 7 ("con- 
founds ") favours Dyce's emendation, which is also adopted by Dowden 
and H. 

10. Antique. Accented on the first syllable, as regularly in S. 

XX. — " His friend is * beauty's pattern ' (19. 12) ; as such he owns the 
attributes of male and female beauty" (Dowden). 
Palgrave omits this sonnet, with 151, 153, and 154. 

1. With Nature's oivn hand painted. Not artificially coloured — a fash- 
ion which S. detested, as he did false hair. See L. L. L. p. 151, note on 
254. 

2. Master-mistress of my passion. "Who sways my love with united 
charms of man and woman" (Dowden). 

5. Less false in rolling. Dowden compares Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 41 : 

" Her wanton eyes (ill signes of womanhed) 
Did roll too lightly." 

8. Hues. Printed in the quarto in italics and with a capital. This led 
Tyrwhitt to surmise that "Mr. W. H." might be Mr. William Hews, or 
Hughes. But the following words are all printed in the same manner: 
Rose, I. 2 ; Audit, 4. 12 ; Statues, 55. 5 ; Intrim, 56. 9 ; Alien, 78. 3 ; Sat- 
ire, 100. II; Autumne, 104. 5; A bis me, 112. 9; Alcufnie, 114. 4; Syren, 
119. I ; Heretic ke, 1 24. 9 ; Informer, 125. 13 ; Audite, 126. II ; and Quie- 
tus, 126. 12. The word hue was used by Elizabethan writers not only in 
the sense of complexion, but also in that of shape, form. In Spenser, F. 
Q. v. 9. 17, Talus tries to seize Malengin, who transforms himself into a 
fox, a bush, a bird, a stone, and then a hedgehog : 

"Then gan it [the hedgehog] run away incontinent 
Being returned to his former hew." 

The meaning here may then be "A man in form and appearance, hav- 
ing the mastery over all forms in that of his, which steals, etc." (Dow- 
den). 

11. Defeated. Disappointed, defrauded. Cf. M. A r . D. iv. 1. 161 : 

"They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius, 
Thereby to have defeated you and me, 
You of your wife, and me of my consent." 



136 NOTES. 

13. Prick\l. Marked. See J. C. p. 160 ; and for the equivoque cf. 
2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 122. 

XXI. — "The first line of 20 suggests this sonnet. The face of Shak- 
spere's friend is painted by Nature alone, and so too there is no false 
painting, no poetical hyperbole, in the description. As containing ex- 
amples of such extravagant comparisons, amorous fancies, far-fetched 
conceits of sonnet-writers as S. here speaks of, Mr. Main {Treasury of 
English Sonnets, p. 283) cites Spenser's Amoretti, 9 and 64; Daniel's 
Delia, 19 ; Barnes's Parthenophil a7id Parthenophe, Sonn. 48. Compare 
also Griffin's Eidessa, Sonn. 39; and Constable's Diana (1594), the 6th 
Decade, Sonn. 1 " (Dowden). 

1. So is it not, etc. " I am not like that poet who exaggerates in praise 
of a painted beauty, coupling her with all other beauty in earth or heav- 
en" (Palgrave). 

5. Couple7nent. Union, combination. The quarto has "cooplement." 
Gildon reads "complement," and Sewell (2d ed.) "compliment." For 
compare as a noun, cf. 35. 6 and 130. 14 below. 

8. Rondure. Circle. Cf. roundure in K. John, ii. 1. 259. 

12. Gold candles. Malone compares M. of V. v. 1. 220 : " these blessed 
candles of the night ;" R. and J. iii. 5. 9 : " Night's candles are burnt 
out ;" and Macb. ii. 1.5: 

"There's husbandry in- heaven; 
Their candles are ail out.'' 

13. That like of hearsay well. Apparently referring to the common- 
place style of which he has been speaking. Schmidt makes it —"that 
fall in love with what has been praised by others ;" and Dowden " that 
like to be buzzed about by talk." For like of= like, see Z. Z. Z. p. no. 
Cf. Gr. 177. 

14. I zvill not praise, etc. Steevens quotes Z. Z. Z. iv. 3. 239 : 

"Fie, painted rhetoric! O, she needs it not; 
To things of sale a seller's praise belongs." 

Cf. also 102. 3 below. 

XXII. — " The praise of his friend's beauty suggests by contrast Shak- 
spere's own face marred by time. He comfor:s himself by claiming his 
friend's beauty as his own, Lines n-14 give the first hint of possible 
wrong committed by the youth against friendship" (Dowden). 

4. Expiate. Bring to an end. Cf. Rich. III. iii. 3. 23 : " Make haste ; 
the hour of death is expiate ;" and see the note in our ed. p. 213. Here, 
as there, Steevens conjectures "expirate," which W. and H. adopt. 
Surely there is no need of coining a word to replace one which S. twice 
uses and which can be plausibly explained. Malone quotes Chapman's 
Byron *s Conspiracie, in which an old courtier speaks of himself as " A 
poor and expiate humour of the court." 

XXIII. — " The sincerity and silent love of his verses ; returning to the 
thought of 21 " (Dowden). 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 137 

1. As an unperfect actor, etc. Malone compares Cor. v. 3. 40 : 

" Like a dull actor now, 
I have forgot my part, and I am out, 
Even to a full disgrace." 

S. uses imperfect only here ; but we find unperfectness in Oth. ii. 3. 298. 

2. Besides. For the prepositional use, cf. T. N. iv. 2. 92 : " Alas, sir, 
how fell you besides your five wits?" See our ed. p. 158, or Gr. 34. 

5. For fear of trust. Fearing to trust myself. Schmidt makes it = 
" doubting of being trusted ;" but the context clearly confirms the expla- 
nation we have given. Dowden calls attention to the construction of the 
first eight lines, 5, 6 referring to 1,2, and 7, 8 to 3, 4. 

6. Ceremony. H. says that the word "is here used as a trisyllable, as 
if spelt ceremony '.;" but how he would scan the verse we cannot imagine. 
The word is clearly a quadrisyllable, as almost always in S. 

9. Books. Sewell reads " looks ;" but, as Malone notes, the old read- 
ing is supported by 13 below. The books, as Dowden remarks, are prob- 
ably the manuscript books in which the poet writes his sonnets. 

12. More than that tongue, etc. " More than that tongue (the tongue 
of another than S.) which hath more fully expressed more ardours of 
love, or more of your perfections " (Dowden). 

XXIV. — " Suggested by the thought (22. 6) of Shakspere's heart being 
lodged in his friend's breast, and by the conceit of 23. 14; there eyes are 
able to hear through love's fine wit; here eyes do other singular things, 
play the painter " (Dowden). 

1. SteWd. A puzzling word, but perhaps =fixed ; as explained by D., 
Schmidt, Dowden, and others. See V. and A. p. 195. Here the quarto 
has "steeld;" corrected by D. (the conjecture of Capell). 

2. Table. The tablet or surface on which a picture is painted. Cf. A. 
W. i. 1. 106 and K. John, ii. 1. 503 (see our ed. p. 150). 

4. Perspective. The word in S. means either a kind of picture which 
was so painted as to be distinct only when viewed obliquely, or a kind of 
glass employed to produce optical illusions. See the long note in Rich. 
II. p. 180. Here the meaning seems to be that the poet's eye {the painter) 
is that through which the person addressed must look to see his image, or 
picture, hanging in the bosom's shop, or heart, within. For the accent of 
perspective, see Gr. 492. 

Dowden remarks : " The strange conceits in this sonnet are paral- 
leled in Constable's Diana (1594), Sonn. 5 (p. 4, ed. Hazlitt) : 

'Thine eye, the glasse where I behold my heart, 

Mine eye, the window through the which thine eye 
May see my heart, and there thyselfe espy 
In bloody colours how thou painted art.' 

Compare also Watson's Teares of Fancie (1593), Sonn. 45, 46 (ed. Arber, 
p. 201) : 

' My Mistres seeing her faire counterfet 

So sweetelie framed in my bleeding brest 
********* 

But it so fast was fixed to my heart,'" etc. 



138 



NOTES. 



II. Where-through. Cf. where-against in Cor. iv. 5. 113, whereout in T. 
and C. iv. 5. 245, where-until in L. L. L. v. 2. 493, etc. 

XXV. — " In this sonnet S. makes his first complaint against Fortune, 
against his low condition. He is about to undertake a journey on some 
needful business of his own (26, 27), and rejoices to think that at least in 
one place he has a fixed abode, in his friend's heart" (Dowden). 

Prof. Hales (Cornhil/ Mag. Jan. 1877) suggests that the journeys spok- 
en of in the Sonnets may have been from London to Stratford. 

5. Great princes' favourites, etc: Cf. Mztch Ado, iii. 1. 8 : 

" Where honeysuckles, ripen'd by the sun, 
Forbiti the sun to enter, like favourites 
Made proud by princes, 1 ' etc. 

Hales thinks that Essex or Raleigh may have furnished the suggestion 
of the simile. 

6. The marigold. The "garden marigold " {Calendula officinalis). Cf. 
the long note in W. T. p. 191 ; and see also Two /Yoble Kinsmen, p. 155, 
note on 10. 

9. For fight. The quarto reads " for worth ;" corrected by Malone at 
the suggestion of Theo., who also proposed forth for the rhyming word 
in 11 if worth was retained. W. adopts the latter reading. Capell pro- 
posed "for might ;" and Steevens suggested this delectable emendation : 

"The painful warrior for worth famoused, 
After a thousand victories once foil'd, 
Is from the book of honour quite razed," etc. 

XXVI. — " In 25 S. is in disfavour with his stars, and unwillingly — as I 
suppose — about to undertake some needful journey. He now sends this 
written embassage to his friend (perhaps it is the Envoy to the preceding 
group of sonnets), and dares to anticipate a time when the * star that 
guides his moving,'' now unfavourable, may point on him. graciously with 
fair aspect " (Dowden). 

Drake writes (Sha/espeare and His Times, vol. ii. p. 63) : " Perhaps one 
of the most striking proofs of this position [that the Sonnets are ad- 
dressed to the Earl of Southampton] is the hitherto unnoticed fact that 
the language of the Dedication to the Rape of Lucrece, and that of part of 
the twenty-sixth sonnet are almost precisely the same. The Dedication 
runs thus: 'The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end. . . . 
The warrant I have of your honourable disposition, not the worth of 
my untutored lines, makes it assured of acceptance. What I have is 
yours, what I have to do is yours ; being part of all I have devoted 
yours. Were my worth greater, my duty would show greater.' " Capell 
had previously noted the parallel. 

2. My duty strongly knit. Steevens quotes Macb. iii. I. 15. 

8. /;/ thy soul's thought, etc. That is, " I hope some happy idea of 
yours will convey my duty, even naked as it is, into your soul's thought" 
(Dowden). For bestow ( = stow, deposit), see C. of E. p. 114. Sewell 
has " my " for thy. 

10. Aspect. Accented on the last syllable, as regularly in S. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. Y ^ 

Tatter d. The quarto has " tottered." See on 2. 4 above. 
1 >. Respect. Regard, consideration. The quarto has "their" for thy, 
27. 10 below. 



11 
12. . 

as in 27. 10 below 



XXVII. — " Written on a journey, which removes S. farther and farther 
from his friend " (Dowden). 

3. Head. Dowden omits the comma after this word, thinking that the 
construction may be " a journey in my head begins to work my mind." 

6. Intend. Here Schmidt makes the word ="bend, direct;" as in 
M. W. ii. 1. 188, 1 Hen. IV. iv. 1. 92, A. and C. v. 2. 201, etc. 

9. Imaginary. Imaginative. Cf. K. John, iv. 2. 265 : " foul imaginary 
eyes of blood" (that is, the sanguinary eyes of my imagination), etc. 

1 1. Like a jewel, etc. Malone quotes R. and J. i. 5. 47 : 

" It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, 
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear." . 

13. By day my limbs, etc. By day my limbs find no quiet for myself, 
that is, on account of my travel ; by night my mind finds no quiet for 
thee, that is, thinking of thee. For the interlaced construction, cf. W. T. 
iii. 2. 164 : 

"though I with death and with 
Reward did threaten and encourage him;" 

and see note in our ed. p. 161. Cf. also 75. 11, 12 below. 

• XXVIII.—" A continuation of Sonn. 27 " (Dowden). 

5. Either 's. The quarto has "ethers," the ed. of 1640 "others." 

9. To please him, etc. Most eds. put a comma after him. On the 

whole, we prefer to omit it, as the Camb. ed. does. 

1 1. Swart-complexion 'd. First hyphened by Gildon. For swart (=dark, 
black), cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 104, K. John, iii. 1. 46, etc. 

12. Twire. Peep, twinkle. Boswell quotes B. J., Sad Shepherd, ii. 1 : 
"Which maids will twire at, 'tween their fingers thus." Nares adds B. 
and F., Woman Pleased, iv. 1 : " I saw the wench that twir'd and twin- 
kled at thee;" and Marston, Antonio and Mellida, act iv. : "I saw a 
thing stir under a hedge, and I peeped, and I spied a thing, and I peered 
and I tweered underneath." Gildon reads " tweer out." Malone con- 
jectures "twirl not," Steevens "twink not," and Massey "tire not." 
For gihfst the quarto has " guil'st ;" corrected by Sevvell. 

14. Strength. The quarto has " length ;" corrected by D. (the conject- 
ure of Capell and Coll.). Dowden, who retains the old text (though 
with some hesitation), explains it thus : " Each day's journey draws out 
my sorrows to a greater length ; but this process of drawing-out does 
not weaken my sorrows, for my night-thoughts come to make my sor- 
rows as strong as before, nay stronger." Capell suggested to Malone 
"draw my sorrows stronger . . . length seem longer." 

XXIX. — "These are the night-thoughts referred to in the last line of 
28 ; hence a special appropriateness in the image of the lark rising at 
break of day" (Dowden). 



I4 o NOTES. 

8. With what I most enjoy contented least. " The preceding line makes 
it not improbable that S. is here speaking of his own poems" (Dovvden). 

12. Sings hymns at heaven's gate. Malone quotes Cymb. ii. 3. 21 : 
" Hark, hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings ;" and Reed adds Lyly, 
Campaspe, v. 1 (referring to the lark) : 

" How at heaven's gate she claps her wings, 
The morn not waking till she sings." 

Milton may have remembered S. when he wrote (P. L. v. 198) : 

"ye birds, 
That singing up to heaven-gate ascend," etc. 

XXX. — "Sonnet 29 was occupied with thoughts of present wants and 
troubles ; 30 tells of thoughts of past griefs and losses" (Dowden). 

I. Sessions of sweet silent thought. Malone quotes Oth. iii. 3. 138 : 

"who has a breast so pure 
But some uncleanly apprehensions 
Keep leets and law-days and in session sit 
With meditations lawful?" 

6. Dateless. Endless; the only sense in S. Cf. 153. 6 below; and 
see also Rich. II. i. 3. 151 and R. and J. v. 3. 115. 

8. Moan the expense. Lament the loss. Dowden thinks it means "pay 
my account of moans for," being explained by what follows ("tell o'er," 
etc.) ; but we cannot agree with him. For expense, cf. 94. 6 and 129. 1 
below. 

10. Tell. Count; as in 138. 12 below. Cf. Temp. p. 123. 

XXXI. — " Continues the subject of 30 — Shakspere's friend compen- 
sates all losses in the past" (Dowden). 

5. Obsequious. Funereal. See Ham. p. 180. 

6. Dear religious love. " In A Lover's Complaint, the beautiful youth 
pleads to his love that all earlier hearts which had paid homage to him 
now yield themselves through him to her service (a thought similar to 
that of this sonnet) ; one of these fair admirers was a nun, a sister sanc- 
tified, but (250) : ' Religious love put out Religion 's eye ' " (Dowden). 
Walker would read "dear-religious," which he explains as "making a 
religion of its affections." 

8. Thee. The quarto has " there ;" corrected by Gildon. 

II. Parts of 171 e. Shares in me, claims upon me. 

XXXII. — " From the thought of dead friends of whom he is the sur- 
vivor, S. passes to the thought of his own death, and his friend as the 
survivor. This sonnet reads like an Envoy" (Dowden). 

4. Lover. For the masculine use, see M. of V. p. 153. 

5, 6. Dowden asks : " May we infer from these lines (and 10) that S. 
had a sense of the wonderful progress of poetry in the time of Elizabeth ?" 

7. Reserve. Preserve ; as in Per. iv. 1. 40: 

"reserve 
That excellent complexion," etc. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. I4I 

XXXIII. — "A new group seems to begin with this sonnet. It intro- 
duces the wrongs done to S. by his friend " (Dowden). 

4. Heavenly alchemy. Steevens compares K. John, iii. 1. 77 : 

"To solemnize this day the glorious sun 
Stays in his course and plays the alchemist, 
Turning with splendour of his precious eye 
The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold." 

6. Rack. A mass of floating clouds. Cf. Temp. p. 137. D. quotes 
Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, 115: "The winds in the upper region, which 
move the clouds above (which we call the rack)." On the passage, Ca- 
pell compares 1 Hen. IV. i. 2. 221 fol. : "Yet herein will I imitate the 
sun," etc. 

7. Forlorn. Accented on the first syllable because followed by a noun 
so accented. Cf. T.G.ofV. i. 2. 124: "Poor forlorn Proteus, passion- 
ate Proteus." For the other accent, see R. of L. 1500 and L. L. L. v. 2. 
805. See also on 107. 4 below. 

12. The region clond. S. uses region several times as =air. Cf. Ham. 

ii. 2. e;oq : 

J "the dreadful thunder 

Doth rend the region ;" 

and again in 607 : "the region kites." See our ed. p. 211. 

14. Stain. Grow dim, as if stained or soiled. Cf. L. L. L. ii. 1. 48 : 
" If virtue's gloss will stain with any soil," etc. Cf. the transitive use in 
35. 3 below. See also the noun in V. and A. 9 : " Stain to all nymphs " 
(that is, by eclipsing them), etc. 

XXXIV. — "Carries on the idea and metaphor of 33 " (Dowden). 
12. Cross. The quarto has "losse;" corrected by Malone (the con- 
jecture of Capell). Cf. 42. 12 and 133. 8. 

XXXV. — "The 'tears' of 34 suggest the opening. Moved to pity, 
S. will find guilt in himself rather than in his friend " (Dowden). 

4. Canker. Canker-worm ; as in 70. 7, 95. 2, and 99. 12 below. See 
also M. N.D. p. 150. 

5. Make faults. Cf. R. of L. 804 : "all the faults which in thy reign 
are made ;" IV. T. iii. 2. 218 : " All faults I make," etc. 

And even I, etc. : " And even I am faulty in this, that I find precedents 
for your misdeed by comparisons with roses, fountains, sun, and moon " 
(Dowden). 

6. AntJiorizing. Accented on the second syllable, as elsewhere in S. 
See Macb. p. 218. For compare, see on 21. 5 above. The meaning is : 
"giving a precedent for thy fault by comparing it with mine" (Pal- 
grave). 

7. Amiss. For the noun, cf. 151. 3 below and Ham. iv. 5. 18. 
For corrupting, salving, Capell would read "corrupt in salving." 

8. Thy . . . thy. The quarto reads "their . . . their;" corrected by 
Malone (the conjecture of Capell). Steevens explains the line thus: 
" Making the excuse more than proportioned to the offence." 

9. Sense. Reason. Malone conjectured " incense " for in sense. Dow- 



1 42 NOTES. 

den says: " If we receive the present text, 'thy adverse party' must 
mean Shakspere. But may we read: 

' For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense, [that is, judgment, 
Thy adverse party, as thy advocate.' reason] 

Sense — against which he has offended — brought in as his advocate ?" 

14. Sweet thief. Cf. 40. 9 : "gentle thief." For sourly Gildon has 
"sorely." 

XXXVI. — "According to the announcement made in 35, S. proceeds 
to make himself out the guilty party" (Dowden). 

1. We two must be twain. Malone compares T. and C. iii. I. no: 
" She '11 none of him ; they two are twain." 

4. Borne. The Var. of 1821 misprints "born." 

5. Respect. Regard, affection. Dowden quotes Cor. iii. 3. 112 : 

"I do love 
My country's good with a respect more tender, 
• More holy and profound than my own life." 

Palgrave explains one respect as = "one thing we look to." 

6. A separable spite. " A cruel fate that spitefully separates us from each 
other " (Malone). Separable is used by S. only here. For the active use 
of adjectives in -die, see Gr. 3. Cf. Rich, II. p. 185 (on Receivable), Lear, 
p. 193 (on Comfortable), etc. 

9. Evermore. Walker conjectures " ever more." 

10. My bewailed guilt. Explained by Spalding and others as "the 
blots that remain with S. on account of his profession" as an actor ; but 
Dowden thinks the meaning may be : "I may not claim you as a friend, 
lest my relation to the dark woman — now a matter of grief — should con- 
vict you of faithlessness in friendship." The interpretation of many 
expressions in the Sonnets must depend upon the theory we adopt con- 
cerning their autobiographical or non- autobiographical character, and 
their relations to one another. 

12. That honour. The honour you give me. 

13, 14. These lines are repeated at the end of Sonn. 96. 

XXXVII.— " Continues the thought of 36. 13, 14" (Dowden)* 
3. So I, made lame. Cf. 89. 3 below: " Speak of my lameness, and I 
straight will halt." Capell and others have inferred that S. was literally 
lame. Malone remarks: "In the 89th Sonnet the poet speaks of his 
friend's imputing to him a fault of which he was not guilty, and yet, he says, 
he would acknowledge it : so (he adds) were he to be described as lame, 
however untruly, yet rather than his friend should appear in the wrong, 
he would immediately halt. If S. was in truth lame, he had it not in his 
power to halt occasionally for this or any other purpose. The defect 
must have been fixed and permanent. The context in the verse before 
us in like manner refutes this notion. If the words are to be understood 
literally, we must then suppose that our admired poet was also poor and 
despised, for neither of which suppositions is there the smallest ground." 
Dowden says : " S. uses to lame in the sense of disable ; here the worth 
and truth of his friend are set over against the lameness of S. ; the lame- 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. I43 

ness then is metaphorical — a disability to join in the joyous movement 
of life, as his friend does." 

Dearest. Most intense. Cf. Ham. i. 2. 182 : " my dearest foe;" and 
see note in our ed. p. 185. 

7. Entitled in thy parts. Finding their title or claim to the throne in 
thy qualities. Cf. R. of Z. 57 : 

"But beauty, in that white intituled, 
From Venus' doves doth challenge that fair field;" 

and see note in our ed. p. 183. Malone explains entitled as "ennobled." 
The quarto has "their parts," which Schmidt would retain, explaining 
the passage thus: "or more excellencies, having a just claim to the first 
place as their due." 

XXXVIII. — " The same thought as that of the two preceding sonnets: 
S. will look on, delight in his friend, and sing his praise. In 37. 14 S. 
is 'ten times happy' in his friend's happiness and glory; thus he re- 
ceives ten times the inspiration of other poets from his friend who is 
'the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth' than the old nine Muses" 
(Dowden). 

8. Invention. Imagination, or the poetic faculty. Cf. 76. 6, 103. 7, 
and 105. 11 below. 

13. CurioiLS. Fastidious, critical. Cf. A. W. i. 2. 20: 

" Frank Nature, rather curious than in haste, 
Hath well compos'd thee.' 1 

XXXIX. — " In 38 S. spoke of his friend's worth as ten times that 
of the nine Muses, but in 37 he had spoken of his friend as the better 
part; of himself. He now asks how he can with modesty sing the worth 
of his own better part. Thereupon he returns to the thought of 36, 'we 
two must be twain ;' and now, not only are the two lives to be divided, 
but ' our dear love ' — undivided in 36 — must ' lose name of single one ' " 
(Dowden). 

12. Which time and thoughts, etc. Which doth so sweetly beguile 
time and thoughts. Malone takes thoughts to be —melancholy (cf. J. C. 
p. 146). See on 44. 9 below. The quarto has " dost " for doth ; correct- 
ed by Malone. 

13, 14. "Absence teaches how to make of the absent beloved two per- 
sons: one, absent in reality; the other, present to imagination" (Dow- 
den). 

XL. — " In 39 S. desires that his love and his friend's may be separat- 
ed, in order that he may give his friend what otherwise he must give also 
to himself. Now, separated, he gives his beloved all his loves, yet knows 
that, before the gift, all his was his friend's by right. 'Our love losing 
name of single one ' (39. 6) suggests the manifold loves, mine and thine " 
(Dowden). 

5, 6. Then if for love of me you receive her whom I love, I cannot 
blame you for using her. For in 6 -because; as in 54. 9 and 106. 11 
below. Gr. 151. 



I44 NOTES. 

7. 8. " Yet you are to blame if you deceive yourself by an unlawful 
union while you refuse loyal wedlock " (Dowden). The quarto has " this 
selfe" for thyself; corrected by Gildon. 

io. All my povei-ty. The poor little that I have. Cf. 103. 1 below. 
For thee, see Gr. 220. 

XLI. — "The thought of 40. 13, 'Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well 
shows/ is carried out in this sonnet" (Dowden). 

I. Pretty. Bell and Palgrave read " petty." Cf- M. of V. ii. 6. 37 : 

" But love is blind, and lovers cannot see 
The pretty follies that themselves commit." 

3. Befits. See Gr. 333. 

5, 6. Gentle thou art, etc. Steevens quotes I Hen VI. v. 3. 77 : 

"She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd; 
She is a woman, therefore to be won." 

8. She have. The quarto reads " he have ;" corrected by Malone (the 
conjecture of Tyrwhitt). Dowden thinks that the old text may be right. 

9. Ay me ! H. and some others read " Ah me !" which is not found 
in S. See M. N. D. p. 128. 

My seat. Malone reads " thou mightst, my sweet, forbear ;" but, as 
Boaden notes, the old reading is confirmed and explained by Oth. ii. 1. 

3°4: 

" I do suspect the lusty Moor 
Hath leap'd into my seat." 

Dr. Ingleby adds, as a parallel, K. of L. 412, 413. 

XLII. — "In 41. 13, 14 S. declares that he loses both friend and*mis- 
tress ; he now goes on to say that the loss of his friend is the greater of 
the two " (Dowden). 

9. My lovers gain. That is, my mistress's gain. 

I I. Both twain. Dowden compares L. L. L. v. 2. 459 : " I remit both 
twain." 

XLIII. — Dowden asks : "Does this begin a new group of sonnets?" 

1. Wink. Shut my eyes. Cf. V. and A. p. 172. 

2. Uninspected. Unnoticed, unregarded; as in 54. 10 below, the only 
other instance of the word in S. 

5. Whose shadow, etc. " Whose image makes bright the shades of 
night" (Dowden). 

II. Thy. The quarto again misprints "their;" corrected by Malone 
(the conjecture of Capell). 

13. All days are nights to see, etc. " All days are gloomy to behold," 
etc. (Steevens). Malone wished to read "nights to me;" and Lettsom 
conjectured : 

"All days are nights to me till thee I see, 
And nights bright days when dreams do show me thee." 

Thee w^ = thee to me. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 145 

XLIV. — " In 43 he obtains sight of his friend in dreams ; 44 expresses 
the longing of the waking hours to come into his friend's presence by 
some preternatural means " (Dowden). 

4. From. Gildon has "To." Where — to where. 

6. Farthest earth removed. That is, earth farthest removed. See Gr. 
419^; and cf. in. 2 below. 

9. Thought kills me. Here, as Dowden notes, thought may mean " mel- 
ancholy contemplation," See on 39, 12 above. 

11. So much of earth and water wrought. That is, so much of these 
baser elements being wrought into my nature. The allusion is to the old 
idea of the four elements entering into the composition of man. See J. 
C. p. 185, note on His life was gentle, etc. Cf. T, N ii, 3. 10 : " Does not 
our life consist of the four elements ?" and Hen. V. iii. 7. 22 : " He is pure 
air and fire, and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in 
him," etc. See also A. and C. v, 2. 292. Walker quotes Chapman, 
Iliad, vii. : 

"But ye are earth and water all, which— symboliz'd [that is, collected] in one — 
Have frara'd your faint unfiery spirits." 

XLV. — " Sonnet 44 tells of the duller elements of earth and water ; 
this sonnet, of the elements of air and fire" (Dowden), 
4. Present-absent. The hyphen was inserted by Malone. 

8. Melancholy. To be pronounced melancholy (Walker). 

9. Recur" d. Restored to health. Cf. V. and A. 465 : " A smile re- 
cures the wounding of a frown." See also Rich. III. iii. 7. 130. 

12. Thy* Again "their" in the quarto; corrected by Malone. 

XLVI. — " As 44 and 45 are a pair of companion sonnets, so are 46 
and 47. The theme of the first pair is the opposition of the four ele- 
ments in the person of the poet ; the theme of the second is the opposi- 
tion of the heart and the eye, that is, of love and the senses " (Dowden). 

3. Thy. The quarto has " their," as in 8, 13, and 14 below : corrected 
by Malone, 

9. y Cide, The quarto has "side ;" corrected by Sewell (2d ed.). 

10. Quest, Inquest, or jury ; as in Rich. Ill i. 4. 189 : 

"What lawful quest have given their verdict up 
Unto the frowning judge?" 

12. Moiety, Share, portion ; not necessarily an exact half. Cf. Ham. 
p. 174. 

XLVII. — "Companion sonnet to the last" (Dowden). 

I. Took. Capell conjectures "strook." 

3. Famish } d far a look. Cf. 75. 10 below. Malone quotes C. of E. ii. 
I. 88 : " Whilst I at home starve for a merry look." 

9. Thy picture or, Lintott has " the picture or," and Gildon " the pict- 
ure of." 

10. Art. The quarto has " are ;" corrected by Malone. 

II. Not. The quarto has " nor ;" corrected in the ed. of 1640. 

K 



I4 6 NOTES. 

With Sonn. 46, 47, Dowden compares Sonn. 19, 20 of Watson's Tears 
of Fancie, 1593 (ed. Arber, p. 188) : 

11 My hart impos'd this penance on mine eies, 
(Eies the first causers of my harts lamenting) : 
That they should weepe till loue and fancie dies, 
Fond loue the last cause of my harts repenting. 
Mine eies vpon my hart inflict this paine 
(Bold hart that dard to harbour thoughts of loue) 
That it should loue and purchase fell disdaine, 
A grieuous penance which my heart doth proue, 
Mine eies did weep as hart had them imposed, 
My hart did pine as eies had it constrained," etc. 

Sonnet 20 continues the same : 

"My hart accus'd mine eies and was offended, 

# # * # # 

Hart said that loue did enter at the eies, 
And from the eies descended to the hart; 
Eies said that in the hart did sparkes arise," etc. 

Cf. also Diana (ed. 1584), Sixth Decade, Sonnet 7 (Arber's English Gar- 
ner, vol. ii. p. 254) ; and Drayton, Idea, 33. 

XLVIII. — " Line 6 of 46, in which S. speaks of keeping his friend in 
the closet of his breast, suggests 48 (see lines 9-12). I have said he is 
safe in my breast ; yet, ah ! I feel he is not" (Dowden). 

11. Gentle closure of my breast. Cf. V. and A. 782 : "Into the quiet 
closure of my breast." 

14. Dowden asks : "Does not this refer to the woman who has sworn 
love (152. 2), and whose truth to S. (spoken of in 41. 13) now proves thiev- 
ish ?" Capell compares V. and A. 724 : " Rich preys make true men 
thieves." For the antithesis of true meri and thieves, see Cymb. p. 182. 

XLIX. — " Continues the sad strain with which 48 closes. Notice the 
construction of the sonnet, each of the quatrains beginning with the same 
words, * Against that time;' so also 64, three quatrains beginning with 
the words ' When I have seen.' So Daniel's sonnet beginning 'If this 
be love,' repeated in the first line of each quatrain " (Dowden). 

3. Whenas. When. Cf. C. of E. p. 142. 

4. Advised respects. Deliberate considerations ; as in K. John, iv. 2. 
214 : "More upon humour than advis'd respects." For advised, see M. 
of V. p. 130, or Rich. II. p. 165. 

7. Converted. Changed. Steevens compares J. C. iv. 2. 20: 

" When love begins to sicken and decay, 
It useth an enforced ceremony." 

8. Reasons. That is, for the change it has undergone. 

10. Desert. Rhyming wither/, and spelled "desart" in the quarto. 
See on 14. 12 and 17. 2 above. Cf. 72. 6 below. 

L. — "This sonnet and the next are a pair, as 44, 45 are, and 46, 47. 
The journey is that spoken of in 48. 1 " (Dowden). 

6. Dully. The quarto has "duly;" corrected in the ed. of 1640. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. I47 

7. Instinct. Accented on the last syllable, as regularly in S. Cf. 2 
Hen. IV. p. 149. 

LI. — "Companion to 50" (Dowden). 

6. Swift extremity. The extreme of swiftness. 

10. Perfect'' st. The quarto has "perfects," and Gildon "perfect." 
Perfect" st is due to D. For the superlative, cf. Much Ado, ii. 1. 317 : " Si- 
lence is the perfectest herald of joy;" and for the contracted form, see 
Gr. 473- 

11. Shall neigh — no dull flesh, etc. The quarto reads "shall naigh noe 
dull flesh," etc. Malone was the first to make no dull flesh parenthetical. 
Dowden thinks the meaning may be, " Desire, which is all love, shall 
neigh, there being no dull flesh to cumber him as he rushes forward in 
his fiery race." Massey makes flesh the object of neigh (=neigh to). 

13. Wilful-sloiv. The hyphen is due to Malone. 

14. Go. The word here, as Dowden notes, seems to have the specific 
sense of walking as opposed to running. Cf. Temp. iii. 2. 22 : 

11 Stephano. We '11 not run, Monsieur monster. 
Trinculo. Nor go neither;" 

and T. G. of V. iii. I. 388 : " Thou must run to him, for thou hast stayed 
so long that going will scarce serve thy turn." Schmidt defines go in 
these two passages as ="walk leisurely, not to run ;" but the instance 
in the text he puts under the head of go ="make haste." 

LIT. — "The joy of hope ; the hope of meeting his friend spoken of in 
the last sonnet " (Dowden). 

I. Key. Pronounced kay in the time of S. Note the rhyme with sur- 
vey. 

4. For blunting. For fear of blunting. Cf. T. G. of V. i. 2. 136 : " Yet 
here they shall not lie, for catching cold ;" and 2 Hen. VI. iv. 1. 74 : 

"Now will I dam up this thy yawning mouth, 
For swallowing the treasure of the realm." 
See Gr. 154. 

5. Therefore are feasts, etc. Malone quotes I Hen. IV. i. 2. 229 : 

" If all the year were playing holidays, 
To sport would be as tedious as to work; 
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come, 
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents;" 

and Id. iii. 2. 57 : 

"and so my state, 
Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast, 
And won by rareness such solemnity." 

8. Captain, Chief. For the adjective use, cf. 66. 12 below. For car- 
canet= necklace, see C.ofE. p. 124. 

II. Special blest. Malone has " special -blest." For adjectives used 
adverbially, see Gr. 1. 

LIII. — " Not being able, in absence, to possess his friend, he finds his 
friend's shadow in all beautiful things " (Dowden). 



148 NOTES. 

2. Strange. Stranger, not your own. 

4. "You, although but one person, can give off all manner of shadowy 
images. Shakspere then, to illustrate this, chooses the most beautiful of 
men, Adonis, and the most beautiful of women, Helen ; both are but 
shadows or counterfeits (or pictures, as in Sonn. 16) of the * master-mis- 
tress ' of his passion " (Dowden). 

5. Counterfeit. On the rhyme with set, Walker remarks that -feit was 
pronounced nearly as fate; and so of ei generally. He quotes Ford, Per- 
kin War beck, iii. 2, where Katherine, referring to the word counterfeit, 
says: 

"Pray do not use 
That word; it carries fate in 't." 

In C. of E. iv. 2. 63 straight rhymes with conceit; and in L. L. L. v. 2. 399, 
conceit with zuait. Many similar examples might be cited. 

8. Tires. Head-dresses. Cf. T. G. of V. iv. 4. 190: 

" If I had such a tire, this face of mine 
Were full as lovely as is this of hers." 

See also Much Ado, p. 148. In the present passage, the word may pos- 
sibly be a contraction of attires. 

9. Foison. Plenty, harvest (here = autumn). See Macb. p. 240. On 
the passage, Malone compares A. and C. v. 2. 86 : 

" For his bounty, 
There was no winter in 't ; an autumn 't was 
That grew the more by reaping." 

LIV. — " Continues the thought of 53. There S. declared that over 
and above external beauty, more real than that of Helen and Adonis, his 
friend was pre-eminent for his constancy, his truth. Now he proceeds to 
celebrate the worth of this truth " (Dowden). 

5. Canker-blooms. Dog-roses. Cf. Much Ado, i. 3. 28 : "I had rather 
be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace ;" and 1 Hen. IV. i. 3. 76 : 

"To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose, 
And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke." 

8. Discloses. Uncloses, unfolds. Cf. Ham. i. 3. 40 : 

"The canker galls the infants of the spring 
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd." 

9. For. Because ; as in 106. 11 below. See also on 40. 6 above. 

10. Unrespected. Unregarded. Cf. 43. 2 above. 

12. Sweetest odours. For the allusion to distillation of perfumes, see 
on 5. 9 above. 

14. Vade. Fade. See V. and A. p. 209. The quarto has "by verse;" 
corrected by Malone. That refers to the abstract youth implied in the 
concrete youth. 

LV. — " A continuation of 54. This looks like an Envoy, but 56 is 
still a sonnet of absence" (Dowden). 

Mr. Tyler (Athenaum, Sept. 11, 1880) ingeniously argues that the 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



149 



thought and phrasing of lines in this sonnet are derived from a passage 
in Meres's Palladis Tamia, 1598, where Shakspere among others is men- 
tioned with honour: 

" As Ovid saith of his worke ; 

Jamque opus exegi, quod nee Jovis ira, nee ignis. 
Nee poterit ferrum, nee edax abolere vetustas ; 

And as Horace saith of his : 

Exegi monumentum aere perennius, 
Regalique situ pyramidum altius ; 
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens 
Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis 
Annorum series et fuga temporuml 

So say I seuerally of Sir Philip Sidneys, Spencers, Daniels, Draytons, 
Shakespeares, and Warners workes ; 

Nee Jovis ira, imbres, Mars, ferrum, flamma, senectus, 
Hoc opus unda, lues, turbo, venena ruent. 

Et quanquam ad pulcherrimum hoc opus euertendum tres illi Dii con- 
spirabunt, Chronus, Vulcanus, et Pater ipse gentis ; 

Nee tatnen annorum. series, non flamma, nee ensis, 
Aeternum potuit hoc abolere decus. ,y 

I. Monuments. The quarto has " monument ;" corrected by Malone. 

3. These contents. What is contained in these verses of mine. 

7. Mars his sivord. Cf. T. and C. ii. 1. 58 : "Mars his idiot," etc. Gr. 
217. 

13. Till thejudg?nent, etc. " Till the decree of the judgment day that 
you arise from the dead " (Dowden). H. has this strange note : " Arise 
is here used transitively, and is put in the plural for the rhyme, though 
its subject is in the singular: 'Till the judgment-day that raises your- 
self from the dead,' is the meaning." 

LVI. — "This, like the sonnets immediately preceding, is written in 
absence. The love S. addresses (' Sweet love, renew thy force ') is the 
love in his own breast. Is the sight of his friend, of which he speaks, 
only the imaginative seeing of love ; such fancied sight as two betrothed 
persons may have although severed by the ocean ?" (Dowden.) 

6. Wink. Close in sleep, as after a full meal. See on 43. 1 above. 

8. Dullness. " Taken in connection with wink, meaning sleep, dull- 
ness seems to mean drowsiness, as when Prospero says of Miranda's 
slumber {Temp. i. 2. 185) "T is a good dullness ' " (Dowden). 

13. Else. The quarto has " As ;" corrected by Palgrave. 

LVI I. — "The absence spoken of in this sonnet seems to be voluntary 
absence on the part of Shakspere's friend " (Dowden). 

5. World-wit hout- end hour. "The tedious hour, that seems as if it 
would never end. So L. L. L. v. 2. 799 : ' a world-without-end bar- 
gain' " (Malone). 

12. Where you are, etc. How happv you make those where you are. 

13. Will. The quarto has " Will " (not in italics). " If a play on 



ISO 



NOTES. 



words is intended, it must be ' Love in your Will (your Will Shakspere) 
can think no evil of you, do what you please ;' and also ' Love can dis- 
cover no evil in your will ' " (Dowden). 

LVIII. — " A close continuation of 57 ; growing distrust in his friend, 
with a determination to resist such a feeling. Hence the attempt to dis- 
qualify himself for judging his friend's conduct, by taking the place of a 
vassal, a servant, a slave, in relation to a sovereign " (Dowden). 

3. To crave. For the to, see Gr. 350. 

6. The imp7'iso7i d absence of your liberty. " The separation from you, 
which is proper to your state of freedom, but which to me is imprison- 
ment. Or the want of such liberty as you possess, which I, a prisoner, 
suffer " (Dowden). 

7. Tame to sufferance. " Bearing tamely even cruel distress ; or, tame 
even to the point of entire submission " (Dowden). Malone compares 
Lear, iv. 6. 225: "made tame to fortune's blows." Bide each check = 
endure each rebuke or rebuff. 

10. Your time To what, etc. Malone reads "your time : Do what," etc. 

LIX. — "Is this connected with the preceding sonnet? or a new start- 
ing-point ? Immortality conferred by verse (54, 55) is again taken up in 
60, connected with 59, and jealousy (57) in 61 " (Dowden). 

5. Record. Accented by S. on either syllable, as suits the measure. 
Cf. 122. 8 below. 

6. Courses, Yearly courses, not daily. Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 3. 6 : 

" After 
So many courses of the sun enthron'd;" 

T. and C. iv. 1. 27 : "A thousand complete courses of the sun," etc. 

7. Antique. For the accent, see on 19. 10 above. 

8. Since mind, etc. "Since thought was first expressed in writing" 
(St.). 

11. Or whether. The quarto has "or where," and some modern eds. 
print " whe'r " or " wher." See Gr. 466. 

12. Or whether revolution, etc. Whether the revolution of time brings 
about the same things. 

LX. — "The thought of revolution, the revolving ages (59. 12) sets the 
poet thinking of changes wrought by time " (Dowden). 

1. Like as. Cf. 1 18. 1 below. See also T. and C. i. 2. 7, Ham. i. 2. 
217, etc. 

5. Nativity, etc. The child once brought into this world of light. " As 
the main of waters would signify the great body of waters, so the main of 
light signifies the mass or flood of light into which a new-born child is 
launched " (K.). Dowden remarks that the image in main of light is 
suggested by line 1, where our minutes are compared to waves. 

7. Crooked. Malignant. Cf. T. G. of V. iv. 1. 22 : " If crooked fortune 
had not thwarted me," etc. For the allusion to the supposed evil influ- 
ence of eclipses, cf. 107. 5 below. Cf. also Macb. iv. I. 28, Ham. i. I. 120, 
Lear, i. 2. 112, Oth. v. 2. 99, etc. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



I5i 



8. Confound. Destroy. See on 5. 6 above. 

9. Flourish. " External decoration " (Malone). Cf. L. L. L. ii. I. 14 : 
" the painted flourish of your praise," etc. 

10. Delves the parallels. Makes furrows. For the figure, cf. 2. 2 above ; 
and for a different one, see 19. 9. 

13. Times in hope. Future times. 

LXI. — " The jealous feeling of 57 reappears in this sonnet " (Dowden). 
8. Tenour. The quarto has "tenure;" corrected by Malone. 

11. Defeat. Destroy. Cf. Oth. iv. 2. 160 : " His unkindness may defeat 
my life ;" and see our ed. p. 201. 

LXII. — " Perhaps the thought of jealousy in 61 suggests this. * How 
self-loving to suppose my friend could be jealous of such an one as I — 
beated and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity ! My apology for supposing 
that others could make love to me is that my friend's beauty is mine by 
right of friendship'" (Dowden). 

5. Gracious. Full of grace, beautiful. Cf. K. John, iii. 4. 81 : "a gra- 
cious creature ;" T. N. i. 5. 281 : "A gracious person," etc. 

7. And for myself etc. Walker conjectures "so define," and Lettsom 
"so myself." Dowden asks : "Does for myself mean 'for my own sat- 
isfaction?" Perhaps it merely adds emphasis to the statement 

8. As /, etc. In such a way that I, etc. 

10. Bated. The quarto has "beated," which was probably an error 
of the ear for bated ( = beaten down, weakened ; as in M. of V. iii. 3. 32 : 
"These griefs and losses have so bated me," etc.), beat being then pro- 
nounced?^. See W. T. p. 170, note on Baits ; and cf. T. G. of V. p. 125, 
note on 68. Malone conjectured " 'bated," but thought beated might be 
right, as casted occurs in Hen. V. (iv. 1. 23). He says that thrusted is 
found in Macb., but no such form is used by S. He has splitted in C. of 
E. i. 1. 104, v. 1. 308, A. and C. v. 1. 24, etc., catched in L. L. L, v. 2. 69, 
becotned in R. and J. iv. 2. 26, Cymb. v. 5. 406, etc. Cf. Gr. 344. Stee- 
vens would read " blasted," and Coll. " beaten," which W. adopts. 

For chopped (the quarto chopt) D. and others read " chapp'd." Cf. 
AKZ.p.158. 

13. J T is thee, myself. That is, thee, who art my other self. 

LXIII. — "Obviously in close continuation of 62" (Dowden). 

5. Steepy night. Malone was at first inclined to read " sleepy night," 
but afterwards decided that steepy is explained by 7. 5, 6 above. Dow- 
den takes the same view. " Youth and age are on the steep ascent and 
the steep decline of heaven." St. says: " Chaucer [C. T. 201, 755] has 
'even stepe,' which his editors interpret 'eyes deep.' We believe in 
both cases the word is a synonym for black or dark.'''' H. reads " sleepy." 

9. For such a time. That is, in anticipation of it. For tify — fortify my- 
self, take defensive measures. Cf. 2 Hen. IV, i. 3. 56 : " We fortify in 
paper and in figures." 

10. Confounding. See on 60. 8 above. 



152 



NOTES, 



LXIV. — " In 63. 12 the thought of the loss of his ' lover's life ' occurs ; 
this sonnet (see line 12) carries out the train of reflection there started. 
'Time's fell hand' repeats 'Time's injurious hand' of 63.2" (Dowden). 
Palgrave remarks that the three sonnets 64-66 "form one poem of mar- 
vellous power, insight, and beauty." 

2. Rich proud. Hyphened by Malone, like down-ras'd below. 

5. When I have seen the hungry ocean, etc. Some critics have ex- 
pressed surprise that S. should know anything of these gradual encroach- 
ments of the sea on the land ; but they had become familiar on the east 
coast of England before his day. For one striking instance of the kind, 
see Rich. II. p. 178, note on Ravenspurg. 

Capell quotes 2 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 45 : 

"O God! that one might read the book of fate, 
And see the revolution of the times 
Make mountains level, and the continent, 
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself 
Into the sea ! and, other times, to see 
The beachy girdle of the ocean 
Too wide for Neptune's hips," etc. 

13. This thought, etc. This thought, which cannot choose but weep 
... is as a death. 

14. To have. At having. See Gr. 356. 

LXV. — " In close connection with 64. The first line enumerates the 
conquests of time recorded in 64. 1-8" (Dowden). 

3. This rage. Malone conjectured "his rage." 

4. Action. Perhaps, as Dowden suggests, used in a legal sense, sug- 
gested by hold a plea. 

6. Wrackful. The quarto has " wrackfull ;" the only instance of the 
word in S. Cf. wrack-threatening in R. of L. 590. Wrack is the only 
spelling in the early eds. See Rich. II. p. 177; and note the rhyme in 
126. 5 below. 

10. Chest. Theo. conjectured " quest ;" but, as Malone shows, the fig- 
ure is a favourite one with S. Cf. 48. 9 above ; and see also K. John, v. 
1. 40, Rich. II. i. 1. 180, etc. Time's chest=ihe oblivion to which he con- 
signs our precious things. 

12. Of beauty. The quarto has "or" for of and Gildon reads "on." 

LXVI. — " From the thought of his friend's death Shakspere turns to 
think of his own, and of the ills of life from which death would deliver 
him " (Dowden). 

1. All these. The evils enumerated below. 

2. Born. St. conjectures " lorn," and " empty " for needy. 

8. Disabled. A quadrisyllable, which W. prints "disableed." See Gr. 

477- 

9. Art made tongue-tied, etc. " Art is commonly used by S. for letters, 
learning, science. Can this line refer to the censorship of the stage ?" 
(Dowden.) 

11. Simplicity. Folly; as in L. L. L. iv. 2. 23, iv. 3. 54, v. 2, 52, 
78, etc. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. IS3 

LXVII. — " In close connection with 66. Why should my friend con- 
tinue to live in this evil world ?" (Dowden.) 

4. Lace. Embellish. See Macb. p. 200. 

6. Dead seeing. " Why should painting steal the lifeless appearance of 
beauty from his living hue ?" (Dowden.) Capell and Farmer conjecture 
"seeming." 

9. Bankrupt. Spelled "banckrout " in the quarto. See V. and A. pp. 
175, 184. 

12. Proud of many, etc. " Nature, while she boasts of many beautiful 
persons, really has no treasure of beauty except his " (Dowden). 

13. Stores. See on 11. 9 above. 

LXVIII. — " Carries on the thought of 67. 13, 14. Cf. the last two 
lines of both sonnets " (Dowden). 

1. Map of days outworn. Malone compares P. of L. 1350: "this pat- 
tern of the worn-out age." For fnap — picture, image, cf. R. of L. 402 : 
" the map of death ;" Pick. II. v. 1. 12 : " Thou map of honour," etc. 

3. Fair. See on 16. 11 above. 

5, 6. For Shakespeare's antipathy to false hair, see M. of V. p. 149. 
Cf. note on 20. 1 above. 

10. Without all. That is, without any. Dowden compares 74. 2 be- 
low. For //^//"Malone conjectures "himself." 

LXIX. — " From the thought of his friend's external beauty S. turns to 
think of the beauty of his mind, and the popular report against it" 
(Dowden). 

3. Due. The quarto has " end ;" corrected by Malone (the conjecture 
of Capell and Tyrwhitt). Sewell (2d ed.) has "thy due." 

5. Thy. The quarto has " Their ;" corrected by Malone, who later 
substituted " Thine." 

7. Confound. Destroy. See on 5. 6 above. 

14. Soil. The quarto has "solve," and the ed. of 1640 "soyle." Gil- 
don has " toil." Malone (followed by D., W., and H.) reads " solve " 
(^solution). The Camb. editors and Dowden give "soil," and the for- 
mer say : " As the verb to soil is not uncommon in Old English, meaning 
to solve (as, for example, in Udal's Erasvius : 'This question could not 
one of them all soile '), so the substantive soil may be used in the sense 
of solution. The play upon words thus suggested is in the author's 
manner." 

LXX. — " Continues the subject of the last sonnet, and defends his 
friend from the suspicion and slander of the time " (Dowden). 

i. Art. The quarto has "are ;" corrected in the ed. of 1640. 

3. Suspect. Suspicion. For the noun, which S. uses some dozen times, 
cf. Rich. III. p. 188. 

6. Thy. Again the quarto has " Their." 

Being zvoo'd of time. " Being solicited or tempted by the present 
times" (Dowden). Steevens quotes B. J., Every Man Out of his Hu- 



1 54 NOTES. 

mour, prol. : " Oh, how I hate the monstrousness of time " (that is, the 
times). St. conjectures " crime " for time. 

7. Canker. The canker-worm ; as in 35. 4 above. 

12. To tie up. As to tie up, that is, silence. Gr. 281. Cf. M. N. D. 
iii. 1. 206 : " Tie up my love's tongue, bring him silently." See also R. 
and J. iv. 5. 32, and M. for M. iii. 2. 199. Enlarged— set at large, given 
free scope. Hales writes to Dowden on this passage : " Surely a refer- 
ence here to the Faerie Queene, end of book vi. Calidore ties up the 
Blatent Beast; after a time he breaks his iron chain, * and got into the 
world at liberty again,' that is, is evermore enlarged." 

14. Owe. Own, possess. Cf. 18. 10 above. 

LXXI. — " Shakspere goes back to the thought of his own death, from 
which he was led away by 66. 14, 'to die, I leave my love alone.' The 
world in this sonnet is the ' vile world' described in 66" (Dowden). 

2. The surly sullen bell. Cf. 2 Hen. IV.\. 1. 102 : 

"as a sullen bell 
Remember'd knolling a departed friend;" 

R. and J. iv. 5. 88 : " sullen dirges ;" and Milton, // Pens. 76 : " Swing- 
ing slow with sullen roar " (the curfew bell). 

10. Compounded am with clay. Malone quotes 2 Hen. IV. iv. 5. 1 16 : 
" Only compound me with forgotten dust." 

LXXII. — " In close continuation of 71. ' When I die, let my mem- 
ory die with me ' " (Dowden). 

4 Prove. Find ; as in R. of L. 613 : " When they in thee the like of- 
fences prove," etc. See also 153. 7 below. 

6. Desert. For the rhyme, cf. 14. 12, 17. 2, and 49. 10 above. 

7. /. Cf. M. of V. iii. 2. 321 : " between you and I." See also Gr. 209. 
14. So should you. That is, be shamed. To love = for loving. Gr. 356. 

LXXIII. — "Still, as in 71 and 72, thoughts of approaching death" 
(Dowden). 
2. Yellow leaves. Steevens compares Macb. v. 3. 23 : 

"my way of life 
Is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf." 

4. Ruin'd choirs. The quarto has " rn'wd quiers ;" corrected in the 
ed. of 1640. Steevens remarks: "The image was probably suggested 
by our desolated monasteries. The resemblance between the vaulting 
of a Gothic aisle and an avenue of trees whose upper branches meet and 
form an arch overhead, is too striking not to be acknowledged. When 
the roof of the one is shattered, and the boughs of the other leafless, the 
comparison becomes yet more solemn and picturesque." 

9. The glowing of such fire, etc. Malone remarks that Gray perhaps 
remembered these lines when he wrote " Even in our ashes live [not 
"glow," as Malone quotes it] their wonted fires." 

12. Consumed, etc. "Wasting away on the dead ashes which once 
nourished it with living flame " (Dowden). 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. ^5 

LXXIV. — " In immediate continuation of 73 " (Dowden). 

1. That fell arrest. Capell quotes Ham. v. 2. 347 : 

11 Had I but time— as this fell sergeant, death, 
Is strict in his arrest." 

6. Consecrate. Cf. C. of E. ii. 2. 134 : "this body, consecrate to thee,' 
etc 

7. His. Its ; as in 9. 10 and 14. 6 above. 

n. The coward conquest, etc. Dowden asks: " Does S. merely speak 
of the liability of the body to untimely or violent mischance? Or does 
he meditate suicide ? Or think of Marlowe's death, and anticipate such 
a fate as possibly his own? Or has he, like Marlowe, been wounded? 
Or does he refer to dissection of dead bodies? Or is it 'confounding 
age's cruel knife' of 63. 10 ?" If not a merely figurative expression, like 
this last, the key to it is probably in the first question above : this life 
which is at the mercy of any base assassin's knife. The latter seems to 
us the preferable explanation. Palgrave says that the expression " must 
allude to anatomical dissections, then recently revived in Europe by Ve- 
salius, Fallopius, Pare, and others." Cf. p. 39, foot-note, above. 

13, 14. The worth, etc. " The worth of that (my body) is that which 
it contains (my spirit) and that (my spirit) is this (my poems) " (Dow- 
den). 

LXXV. — " The last sonnet seems to me like an Envoy, and perhaps a 
new MS. book of Sonnets begins with 75-77 " (Dowden). 

2. Sweet- season 'd. The hyphen is due to Malone. 

3. The peace of you. "The peace, content, to be found in you; an- 
tithesis to strife 1 '' (Dowden). Malone conjectured "price" or "sake" 
for peace. 

6. Doubting. Suspecting, fearing. Cf. M. W. i. 4. 42 : "I doubt he be 
not well," etc. 

10. Clean. Quite, completely. Cf. Rich. II. p. 188. On the line, cf. 
47. 3 above (see note). 

11, 11. Possessing or pursuing, etc. That is, possessing no delight save 
what is had, and pursuing none save what must be taken from you. Cf. 
27. 13 above. For took, cf. 2 Hen. IV. i. 1. 131 : " Stumbling in fear, was 
took," etc. Gr. 343. 

14. Or gluttoningi etc. That is, either having a surplus of food or 
none at all. 

LXXVI. — "Is this an apology for Shakspere's own sonnets — of which 
his friend begins to weary — in contrast with the verses of the rival poet, 
spoken of in 78-80?" (Dowden.) 

6. /// a noted zueed. " In a dress by which it is always known, as those 
persons are who always wear the same colours " (Steevens). For weed, 
see on 2. 4 above ; and for noted, cf. K. John, iv. 2. 21 : " the antique and 
well noted face," etc. For invention, see on 38. 8 above. 

7. Tell. The quarto has "fel," and Lintott "fell ;" corrected by Ma- 
lone. That — so that ; as in 98. 4 below. Gr. 283. 



i56 



NOTES. 



8. Where. Capell conjectured "whence;" but cf. Hen. V.\\\. 5. 15, A. 
and C. ii. I. 18, etc. 

LXXVII. — " ' Probably,' says Steevens, * this sonnet was designed to 
accompany a present of a book consisting of blank paper.' ■ This con- 
jecture,' says Malone, * appears to me extremely probable.' If I might 
hazard a conjecture, it would be that Shakspere, who had perhaps be- 
gun a new manuscript - book with Sonnet 75, and who, as I suppose, 
apologized for the monotony of his verses in 76, here ceased to write, 
knowing that his friend was favouring a rival, and invited his friend to 
fill up the blank pages himself (see on 12 below). Beauty, Time, and 
Verse formed the theme of many of Shakspere's sonnets ; now that he 
will write no more, he commends his friend to his glass, where he may 
discover the truth about his beauty ; to the dial, where he may learn the 
progress of time ; and to this book, which he himself — not Shakspere — 
must fill. C. A. Brown and Henry Brown treat this sonnet as an En- 
voy " (Dowden). 

6. Mouthed graves. "All-devouring graves" (Malone). Cf. V.and A. 
757 : " What is thy body but a swallowing grave ?" 

7. Shady stealth. That is, the stealthy motion of the shadow. 

8. Timers thievish progress. Cf. A. W. ii. 1. 169: "the thievish min- 
utes," etc. 

10. Blanks. The quarto has " blacks ;" corrected by Malone (the con- 
jecture of Theo. and Capell). x 

12. Dowden remarks: "Perhaps this is said with some feeling of 
wounded love — my verses have grown monotonous and wearisome; 
write yourself, and you will find novelty in your own thoughts when once 
delivered from your brain and set down by your pen. Perhaps, also, 
'this learning mayst thou taste' (4) is suggested by the fact that S. is 
unlearned in comparison with the rival. I cannot bring you learning ; 
but set down your own thoughts, and you will find learning in them." 

LXXVIII. — " Shakspere, I suppose, receives some renewed profession 
of love from his friend, and again addresses him in verse, openly speak- 
ing of the cause of his estrangement, the favour with which his friend re- 
gards the rival poet " (Dowden). 

3. As every alien pen, etc. That every other poet has acquired my 
habit of writing to you. For the use of as, see Gr. 109. In the quarto 
alien is in italics and begins with a capital. See on 20. 8 above. 

6. Heavy ignorance. As Malone notes, the expression occurs again in 
Oth. ii. 1. 144. 

7. The learned' 'j wing. D. compares Spenser, Teares of the Muses: 

" Each idle wit at will presumes to make, 
And doth the learned's task upon him take." 

9. Compile. Compose, write ; the only sense in S. Cf. 85. 2 below ; 
and see also L. L. L. iv. 3. 134, v. 2. 52, 896. 

12. Arts. Learning, letters. Cf. L. L. L. p. 128, note on Living art, 

13. Advance. Raise, lift up. Cf. Cor. p. 210. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. x ^y 

LXXIX.— "In continuation of Sonnet 78" (Dowden). 

5. Thy lovely argitment. The argument or theme of your loveliness. 

6. Travail. The ed. of 1640 has " travel." The two forms are used 
indiscriminately in the early eds. without regard to the meaning. 

LXXX. — " Same subject continued " (Dowden). 

2. A better spirit. For the conjectures as to this better spirit, see p. 24 
above. Spirit is monosyllabic, as often. Cf. 74. 8 above ; and see Gr. 

463. 

11. Wrack' d. The quarto has " wrackt." See on 65. 6 above. 

LXXXI. — " After depreciating his own verse in comparison with that 
of the rival poet, S. here takes heart, and asserts that he will by verse 
confer immortality on his friend, though his own name may be forgotten " 
(Dowden). 

1. Or. St. conjectures " Whe'r" (= Whether). See on 59. 11 above. 

12. The breathers of this world. Those who are now living. Malone 
compares A. Y. L. iii. 2. 297 : "I will chide no breather in the world but 
myself." Walker proposes to point as follows : 

"shall o'er-read, 
And tongues to be your being shall rehearse ; 
When all the breathers of this world are dead, 
You still shall live," etc. ; 

but, as Dowden remarks, it is rare with S. to let the verse run on without 
a pause at the twelfth line of the sonnet. 

LXXXII. — " His friend had perhaps alleged in playful self-justifica- 
tion that he had not married Shakspere's Muse, vowing to forsake all 
other and keep him only unto her " (Dowden). 

2. Attaint. Blame, discredit. Cf. the verb in 88. 7 below. Overlook 
= peruse ; as in M. N. D. ii. 2. 121, Lear, v. 1. 50, etc. 

3. Dedicated words. " This may only mean devoted words, but proba- 
bly has reference, as the next line seems to show, to the words of some 
dedication prefixed to a book " (Dowden). 

5. Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue. " S. had celebrated his 
friend's beauty (hue) ; perhaps his learned rival had celebrated the pa- 
tron's knowledge ; such excellence reached * a limit past the praise ' of 
Shakspere, who knew small Latin and less Greek " (Dowden). 

10. Strained. Forced, overwrought. 

11. Sympathized. Described sympathetically, or with true apprecia- 
tion. Qi.R. of L. 1113: 

"True sorrow then is feelingly suffic'd 
When with like semblance it is sympathize." 

The meaning seems to be : thy nature, which is truly fair, needs no forced 
rhetoric to set it off, but is best described in the plain language of simple 
truth. 

LXXXIII. — " Takes up the last words of 82, and continues the same 
theme " (Dowden). 



iS8 



NOTES. 



2. Fair, Beauty. See on 16. n above. 

5. And therefore have I slept, etc. " And therefore I have not sounded 
your praises" (Malone). 

7. Modern. Ordinary, common. See Macb. p. 243. 

8. What. Malone conjectured " that." 

12. Bring a tomb. Dowden compares 17. 3 above. 

LXXXIV. — " Continues the same theme. Which of us, the rival poet 
or I, can say more than that you are you ?" (Dowden.) 

6. His. Its ; as in 9. 10, 14. 6, and 74. 7 above. 

8. Story. Most eds. put a comma after this word. We retain the 
pointing of the quarto, which Dowden also thinks may be right. 

11. Fame. Make famous. Elsewhere S. uses only the participle 
famed. 

14. Being fond on. Doting on. Cf. M. N. D. ii. 1. 266 : " More fond 
on her than she upon her love." See also the verb (though Schmidt 
thinks it may as well be the adjective) in T. N. ii. 2. 35 : 

"my master loves her dearly; 
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him." 

LXXXV. — " Continues the subject of 84. Shakspere's friend is fond 
on praise ; Shakspere's Muse is silent, while others compile comments 
of his praise " (Dowden). 

1. Tojigue-tied mnse. Cf. 80. 4 above. 

2. CompiPd. See on 78. 9 above. 

3. Reserve their character. Probably corrupt. The Camb. ed. records 
the plausible anonymous conjecture, " Rehearse thy " (or " your "). Dow- 
den suggests "Deserve their character" (^deserve to be written). Ma- 
lone makes reserve— preserve (cf. 32. 7 above), but does not tell us what 
" preserve their character " can mean here. 

4. FiPd. Polished (as with a file). Cf. L. L. L. v. 1. 12: "his tongue 
filed." See also on 86. 13 below. 

1 1. But that. That is, what I add. 

LXXXVI. — " Continues the subject of 85, and explains the cause of 
Shakspere's silence " (Dowden). 

1. Proud full sail. Cf. 80. 6 above. 

4. Making their tomb the womb, etc. Malone compares R. and J. ii. 
3-9 : 

"The earth that 's nature's mother is her tomb; 
What b her burying grave, that is her womb." 

See also Per. ii. 3. 45 : 

" Whereby I see that Time 's the king of men : 
He 's both their parent and he is their grave ;" 

and Milton, P. L. ii. 911 : "The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave." 
We find the same thought in Lucretius, v. 259 : " Omniparens eadem re- 
rum commune sepulcrum." 

5-10. See p. 24 and p. 40, foot-note, above. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. IS9 

8. Astonished. Stunned as by a thunderstroke. Cf. R. of L. 1730: 
" Stone-still, astonish'd with this deadly deed," etc. 

13. FilVd up his line. Malone, Steevens, and D. read "nTd," etc. 
Steevens cites B. J., Verses on Shakespeare : " In his well-torned and true- 
filed lines. " But, as Dowden notes, fiWd up his line is opposed to then 
lacked I matter. The quarto has "fild," as in 17. 2 and 63. 3 ; while it 
has "nTd "in 85. 4. 

LXXXVII. — " Increasing coldness on his friend's part brings S. to the 
point of declaring that all is over between them. This sonnet in form is 
distinguished by double-rhymes throughout " (Dowden). 

4. Determinate. " Determined, ended, out of date. The term is used 
in legal conveyances " (Malone). Schmidt explains the word as =" lim- 
ited ;" as in T. N. ii. 1. 11 : "my determinate voyage is mere extrava- 
gancy." 

8. Patent. Privilege. Cf. M. N. D. i. 1. 80 : " my virgin patent ;" A. 
W. iv. 5. 69 : " a patent for his sauciness," etc. 

11. Misprision. Mistake, error. Cf. Much Ado,iv. 1. 187: "There is 
some strange misprision in the princes," etc. 

14. No such matter. Nothing of the kind. Cf. Much Ado, ii. 3. 225 : 
" the sport will be when they hold one an opinion of another's dotage, 
and no such matter," etc. 

LXXXVIII. — "In continuation. S. still asserts his own devotion, 
though his unfaithful friend not only should forsake him, but even hold 
him in scorn " (Dowden). 

1. Set me light. Set light by me, esteem me lightly. Cf. Rich. II. ii. 
3. 293 : " The man that mocks at it and sets it light." 

7. Attainted. See on 82. 2 above. 

8. Shalt. The quarto has " shall ;" corrected by Sewell. 

12. Double-vantage. The hyphen was inserted by Malone. 

LXXXIX. — " Continues the subject of 88, showing how S. will take 
part with his friend against himself" (Dowden). 

3. My lameness. See on 37. 3 above. 

6. To set a form, etc. By giving a good semblance to the change which 
you desire. Palgrave makes it = "by defining the change you desire." 
For the infinitive, see Gr. 356. Dowden compares M. N. D. i. 1. 233. 

8. / will acquaintance strangle. " I will put an end to our familiarity " 
(Malone). Cf. T. N. v. I. 150: "That makes thee strangle thy propri- 
ety" (disavow thy personality); A. and C. ii. 6. 130: "the band that 
seems to tie their friendship together will be the very strangler of their 
amity." Malone calls strangle " uncouth ;" but, as K. asks, "why is any 
word called uncouth which expresses a meaning more clearly and forcibly 
than any other word ? The miserable affectation of the last age, in re- 
jecting words that in sound appeared not to harmonize with the mincing 
prettiness of polite conversation, emasculated our language ; and it will 
take some time to restore it to its ancient nervousness." 



160 NOTES. 

13. Debate. Contest, quarrel ; the only meaning in S. Cf. M. N. D. 
ii. 1. 116: 

11 And this same progeny of evils comes 
From our debate, from our dissension." 

XC. — "Takes up the last word of 89, and pleads pathetically for 
hatred ; for the worst, speedily, if at all " (Dowden). 

6. The rearward, etc. Malone compares Much Ado, iv. 1. 128 : 

"Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames, 
Myself would, on the rearward of reproaches, 
Strike at thy life." 

13. Strains of woe. Dowden quotes Much Ado, v. 1. 12: 

"Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine, 
And let it answer every strain for strain." 

XCI. — " Having in 90 thought of his own persecution at the hand of 
Fortune, S. here contrasts his state with that of the favourites of Fortune, 
maintaining that if he had but assured possession of his friend's love, he 
would lack none of their good things " (Dowden). 

3. New-fangled. Cf. L. L. L. i. 1. 106 and A. Y. L. iv. 1. 152. 

4. Horse. Probably a contracted plural. See Macb. p. 204, or Gr. 471. 
Cf. sense in 112. 10 below. 

9. Better. The quarto has "bitter ;" corrected in the ed. of 1640. 

XCII. — "In close connection with 91. This sonnet argues for the 
contradictory of the last two lines of that immediately preceding it. No : 
you cannot make me wretched by taking away your love, for, with such a 
loss, death must come and free me from sorrow " (Dowden). 

10. On thy revolt doth lie. Hangs upon thy faithlessness. Cf. Oth. 
iii. 3. 188 : "The smallest doubt or fear of her revolt," etc. 

13. Blessed-fair. Hyphened by Malone. 

XCIII. — "Carries on the thought of the last line of 92" (Dowden). 

7. In many's looks. Cf. R. and J. i. 3. ,91 : " in many's eyes " (omitted 
by Schmidt). 

11. Whatever. The quarto has "what ere ;" corrected by Gildon. 

XCIV. — "In 93 Shakspere has described his friend as able to show a 
sweet face while harbouring false thoughts ; the subject is enlarged on in 
the present sonnet. They who can hold their passions in check, who 
can seem loving yet keep a cool heart, who move passion in others, yet 
are cold and unmoved themselves — they rightly inherit from heaven large 
gifts, for they husband them; whereas passionate intemperate natures 
squander their endowments ; those who can assume this or that sem- 
blance as they see reason are the masters and owners of their faces ; oth- 
ers have no property in such excellences as they possess, but hold them 
for the advantage of the prudent self-contained persons. True, these 
self-contained persons may seem to lack generosity ; but, then, without 
making voluntary gifts they give inevitably, even as the summer's flower 
is sweet to the summer, though it live and die only to itself. Yet, let 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 161 

such an one beware of corruption, which makes odious the sweetest flow- 
ers " (Dowden). 

4. Cold. The quarto has "could ;" corrected in the ed. of 1640. 
6. Expense. Expenditure, waste. Cf. 129. 1 below. 

11. Base. St. conjectures "foul," and Walker "barest" for basest in 
the next line. 

14. Lilies, etc. This line is found also in Edw. III. ii. 1, the passage 
being as follows : 

"A spacious field of reasons could I urge 
Between his glory, daughter, and thy shame : 
That poison shows worst in a golden cup ; 
Dark night seems darker by the lightning flash ; 
Lilies, that fester, smell far worse than weeds ; 
And every glory, that inclines to sin, 
The same is treble by the opposite." 

The scene is one that some critics ascribe to S. The play was first print- 
ed in 1596. See also on 142. 6 below. Fester=xot ; as in Hen. V. iv. 3. 
88 and R. and J. iv. 3. 43. 

Dowden compares with this sonnet T. A r . iii. 4. 399 fol. : " But O how 
vile an idol," etc. 

XCV. — " Continues the warning of 94. 13, 14. Though now you seem 
to make the shame beautiful, beware ! a time will come when it may be 
otherwise " (Dowden). 

2. Canker. See on 35. 4 above. 

8. A T aming thy name, etc. Steevens compares A. and C. ii. 2. 243 : 

"for vilest things 
Become themselves in her, that the holy priests 
Bless her when she is riggish." 

12. Turn. The quarto has " turnes ;" corrected by Sewell. 

XCVI. — " Continues the subject of 95. Pleads against the misuse of 
his friend's gifts, against youthful licentiousness " (Dowden). 

2. Gentle sport. Cf. 95. 6 above. 

3. More a?td less. High and low ; as in 1 Hen. IV. iv. 3. 68 : " The 
more and less came in with cap and knee." See our ed. p. 192. 

10. If like a lamb, etc. "If he could change his natural look, and as- 
sume the innocent visage of a lamb " (Maione). As Dowden notes, the 
thought of 9, 10 is expressed in different imagery in 93. For translate — 
transform, cf. Ham. iii. 1. 113 : "translate beauty into his likeness." 

12. The strength of all thy state. "Used periphrastically, and =all 
thy strength " (Schmidt). Dowden makes state = " majesty, splendour." 

13, 14. The same couplet closes Sonn. 36. See p. 33 above. 

XCVII. — "A new group of sonnets seems to begin here" (Dowden). 

5. This time removed. " This time in which I was remote or absent 
from thee " (Maione). Cf. T. N.v. 1. 92 : "a twenty years removed thing." 

6. The teeming autumn, etc. Maione compares M. N. D. ii. I. 112 : 
" The childing autumn," etc. 

L 



^2 NOTES. 

7. Prime. Spring ; as in R. of Z. 332 : " To add a more rejoicing to 
the prime." 

10. Hope of orphans. " Such hope as orphans bring ; or, expectation 
of the birth of children whose father is dead " (Dowden). 

XC VIII. — " The subject of 97 is Absence in Summer and Autumn ; 
the subject of 98 and 99, Absence in Spring " (Dowden). 

2. Proud-pied April. April in its richly variegated apparel. For pied, 
cf. Z. Z. Z. v. 2. 904 : " daisies pied," etc. On the passage, Malone com- 
pares R. and J. i. 2. 27 : 

"Such comfort as do lusty young men feel 
When well-apparell'd April on the heel 
Of limping winter treads." 

4. That. So that; as in 76. 7 above. Heavy Satum = " the gloomy 
side of nature ; or the saturnine spirit in life " (Palgrave). 

6. Different flowers in, etc. That is, flowers different in, etc. Cf. 44. 
6 above. Gr. 419^. 

7. Summer's story. Malone remarks : "Bya summer's story S. seems 
to have meant some gay fiction. Thus his comedy founded on the ad- 
ventures of the king and queen of the fairies, he calls a Midsummer Night's 
Dream. * On the other hand, in W. T. he tells us * a sad tale 'j best for 
winter.'' So also in Cymb. iii. 4. 12 : 

* If 't be summer news, 
Smile to 't before; if winterly, thou need'st 
But keep that countenance still.' " 

9. Lily's. The quarto has "lillies," which was probably meant to 
be the possessive ; but Malone and others retain it as the objective 
plural. 

11. They were but sweet, etc. "The poet refuses to enlarge on the 
beauty of the flowers, declaring that they are only sweet, only delightful, 
so far as they resemble his friend" (Steevens). Malone would read 
"They were, my sweet," etc. Lettsom proposes "They were but fleet- 
ing figures of delight." 

XCIX. — " In connection with the last line of 98. The present sonnet 
has fifteen lines, as also has one of the sonnets in Barnes's Parthenophil 
and Parthenophe'''' (Dowden). 

6. Condemned for thy hand. Condemned for stealing the whiteness 
of thy hand. 

7. And buds of marjoram, etc. Dowden compares Suckling's Tragedy 
of Brennoralt, iv. I : 

" Hair curling, and cover'd like buds of marjoram ; 
Part tied in negligence, part loosely flowing." 

He adds : " Mr. H. C. Hart tells me that buds of marjoram are dark 

* Dowden asks : " But is not A Midsummer- Night's Dream so named because on 
Midsummer Eve men's dreams ran riot, ghosts were visible, maidens practised divina- 
tion for husbands, and 'midsummer madness' (T. N. iii. 4. 61) reached its height?" 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. ^3 

purple-red before they open, and afterwards pink ; dark auburn I sup- 
pose would be the nearest approach to marjoram in the colour of hair. 
Mr. Hart suggests that the marjoram has stolen not colour but perfume 
from the young man's hair. Gervase Markham gives sweet marjoram 
as an ingredient in 'The water of sweet smells,' and Culpepper says 
'marjoram is much used in all odoriferous waters.' Cole (Adam in 
Eden, ed. 1657) says ' Marjerome is a chief ingredient in most of those 
powders that Barbers use, in whose shops I have seen great store of this 
herb hung up.' " 

8. On thorns did stand. A quibbling allusion to the proverbial ex- 
pression, " to stand on thorns." Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 596 : " But O the thorns 
we stand upon !" 

9. One. The quarto has " Our ;" corrected by Sewell. 

13. Canker. See on 35. 4 above. 

15. Sweet. Walker conjectures "scent." 

C. — " Written after a cessation from sonnet-writing, during which S. 
had been engaged in authorship — writing plays for the public as I sup- 
pose, instead of poems for his friend" (Dowden). 

3. Fury. Poetic enthusiasm or inspiration. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 229 : 
" what fury hath inspir'd thee now ?" So we have " prophetic fury " in 
Oth. hi. 4. 72. 

9. Resty. Too fond of rest, torpid ; as in Cymb. iii. 6. 34 : " resty 
sloth," etc. D. quotes Coles, Latin Diet. : " Resty, piger, lentus." 

11. Satire. Satirist. Walker quotes B. J., Masque of Ti?ne Vindicated : 
"'Tis Chronomastix, the brave satyr;" Poetaster, v. 1: "The honest 
satyr hath the happiest soul " [satyr and satire were used interchange- 
ably in this sense] ; Goffe, Coicrageous Turk, ii. 3 : 

" Poor men may love, and none their wills correct, 
But all turn satires of a king's affect ;" 

Shirley, Witty Fair One, i. 3 : " prithee, Satire, choose another walk," etc. 

14. So thou prevent 'st, etc. " So by anticipation thou hinderest the 
destructive effects of his weapons " (Steevens). 

CI. — " Continues the address to his Muse, calling on her to sing again 
the praises of his friend : 100 calls on her to praise his beauty ; 101, his 
' truth in beauty dyed ' " (Dowden). 

6. His colour. That of my friend. 

7. Lay. That is, lay on, like a painter's colours. Cf. T. N. i. 5. 258: 

'"T is beauty truly blent, whose red and white 
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on." 

11. Him. Changed to " her " in the ed. of 1640 ; as him and he in 14 
to " her " and " she." 

CII. — "In continuation. An apology for having ceased to sing" 
(Dowden). 



1 64 



NOTES. 



3. That love is merchandized, etc. See on 21. 14 above ; and cf. L. L. 

3 * "my beauty, though but mean, 

Needs not the painted nourish of your praise : 
Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye, 
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues." 

7. /;/ summer's front. In the beginning of summer. Cf. W. T, iv. 4. 
3 : " Peering in April's front." 

8. Her pipe. The quarto has " his pipe ;" corrected by Housman 
{Coll. of Eng. Sonnets, 1835). 

9. Not that the summer, etc. Capell quotes M. of V. v. I. 104 : 

"The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
No better a musician than the wren." 

OIL — "Continues the same apology" (Dovvden). 

3. The argument, all bare. The mere thetfie of my verse. 

7. Blunt. Dull, clumsy. 

9. Striving to mend, etc. Malone compares Lear, i. 4. 369 : " Striving 
to better, oft we mar what 's well." 

CIV. — " Resumes the subject from which the poet started in 100. 
After absence and cessation from song, he resurveys his friend's face, 
and inquires whether Time has stolen away any of its beauty. Note 
the important reference to time, three years * since first I saw you fresh ' " 
(Dowden). 

3. Winters. D. reads " winters'," which may be right. 

4. Summers'' pride. Steevens cites R. and J. i. 2. 10: " Let two more 
summers wither in their pride." 

10. Steal from his figure. Creep away from the figure on the dial. 
Cf. 77. 7 above. 

CV. — "To the beauty praised in 100, and the truth and beauty in 
101, S. now adds a third perfection, kindness ; and these three sum up 
the perfections of his friend " (Dowden). 

I. Let not i?iy love, etc. " Because the continual repetition of the same 
praises seemed like a form of worship " (Walker). Cf. 108. 1-8. 

14. Never kept seat. Gildon reads "never sate," and Sewell "have 
never sate." 

CVI. — "The last line of 105 declares that his friend's perfections were 
never before possessed by one person. This leads the poet to gaze back- 
ward on the famous persons of former ages, men and women, his friend 
being possessor of the united perfections of both man and woman (as in 
20 and 53) " (Dowden). 

1. Chronicle. Hales (quoted by Dowden) asks : " What chronicle is 
he thinking of? The Faerie Queene V The chronicle of wasted time may 
be simply =the history of the past. 

& Master. Possess, control ; as in Hen. V. ii. 4. 137 : " these he mas- 
ters now," etc. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS, ^5 

9. Dowden compares Constable's Diana: 

" Miracle of the world, I never will deny 
That former poets praise the beauty of their days ; 
But all those beauties were but figures of thy praise, 
And all those poets did of thee but prophesy." 

11. And for they look'd. And because they looked. See on 54.9 
above. 

12. Skill. The quarto has "still ;" corrected by Malone (the conject- 
ure of Tyrwhitt and Capell). 

CVII. — "Continues the celebration of his friend, and rejoices in their 
restored affection. Mr. Massey explains this sonnet as a song of tri- 
umph for the death of Elizabeth, and the deliverance of Southampton 
from the Tower. Elizabeth (Cynthia) is the eclipsed mortal moon of 
line 5 ; cf. A. and C. iii. 13. 153 : 

1 Alack, our terrene moon [Cleopatra] 
Is now eclips ? d.' 

But an earlier reference to a moon-eclipse (35. 3) has to do with his 
friend, not with Elizabeth, and in the present sonnet the moon is imag- 
ined as having endured her eclipse, and come out none the less bright. 
I interpret (as Mr. Simpson does, in his Philosophy of Shakspere's Son- 
nets, p. 79) : ' Not my own fears (that my friend's beauty may be on the 
wane (see 104. 9-14) nor the prophetic soul of the world, prophesying 
in the persons of dead knights and ladies your perfections (see 106), 
and so prefiguring your death, can confine my lease of love to a brief 
term of years. Darkness and fears are past, the augurs of ill find their 
predictions falsified, doubts are over, peace has come in place of strife ; 
the love in my heart is fresh and young (see 108. 9), and I have con- 
quered Death, for in this verse we both shall find life in the memories 
of men ' " (Dowden). 

4. Supposed as forfeit, etc. " Supposed to be a lease expiring within a 
limited term" (Dowden). 

Confined. For the accent, see on 33. 7. For the ordinary accent, cf. 
105. 7 and no. 12. 

5. Eclipse. See on 60. 7 above. 

6. Mock their own presage. "Laugh at the futility of their own pre- 
dictions " (Steevens). 

7. Incertaiuties, Cf. 1 1 5. II below, and W. T. iii. 2. 170. These are 
the only instances of the word in S., and uncertainty also occurs three 
times. 

8. And peace proclaim s, etc. "The peace completed early in 1609, 
which ended the war between Spain and the United Provinces, might 
answer to the tone of this sonnet. Mr. Massey dates it at the accession 
of James I., and argues that the eclipse of the mortal moon refers to the 
death of Elizabeth" (Palgrave). See Dowden's note above. 

10. My love looks fresh. "I am not sure whether this means ' the love 
in my heart,' or 'my love' =my friend. Compare 104. 8 and 108. 9" 
(Dowden). 

Subscribes. Yields, submits. Cf. Lear, p. 178. 



!C6 NOTES. 

12. Insults o'er. Exults or triumphs over. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. i. 3. 14: 
11 insulting o'er his prey." 

C VIII. — " How can * this poor rhyme ' which is to give us both unend- 
ing life (107. 10-14) De carried on ? Only by saying over again the same 
old things. But eternal love, in 'love's fresh case ' (an echo of 'my love 
looks fresh,' 107. 10), knows no age, and finds what is old still fresh and 
young " (Dowden). 

3. New to register. The quarto has " now " for new ; corrected by 
Malone. Walker would read " What 's now to speak, whatnow," etc. 

5. Sweet boy. The ed. of 1640 has "sweet-love." 

9. Love's fresh case. " Love's new condition and circumstances, the 
new youth of love spoken of in 107. 10" (Dowden). Malone takes it to 
be a reference to the poet's own compositions. 

13. 14. Finding, etc. " Finding the first conception of love — that is, 
love as passionate as at first — excited by one whose years and outward 
form show the effects of age" (Dowden). 

CIX. — " The first ardour of love is now renewed as in the days of our 
early friendship (108. 13, 14). But what of the interval of absence and 
estrangement? S. confesses his wanderings, yet declares that he was 
never wholly false " (Dowden). 

2. Qualify. Temper, moderate. Cf. R. of L. 424 : 

"His rage of lust by gazing qualified; 
Slack'd, not suppress'd," etc. 

4. In thy breast. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 826 : " Hence ever then my heart is 
in thy breast." See also A. Y, L. v. 4. 121, Rich. III. i. 1. 204, etc. 

5. My home of love, etc. Malone compares M. N. D. iii. 2. 170 : 

11 My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn 1 d, 
And now to Helen is it home return'd." 

7. Just to the time, etc. " Punctual to the time, not altered with the 
time" (Dowden) ; the only instance of this sense of exchanged in S. 
II. Stain 'd. St. conjectures " strain'd." 

14. My rose. Cf. 1. 2 above. 

CX. — " In 109 S. has spoken of having wandered from his ' home of 
love ;' here he continues the subject, ' Alas, 't is true I have gone here 
and there.' This sonnet and the next are commonly taken to express 
distaste for his life as a player " (Dowden). 

2. Motley. A wearer of motley, that is, a fool or jester. See A. Y. L. p. 162. 

3. Gor'd mine own thoughts. That is, done violence to them. Cf. T. 
and C. iii. 3. 228 : " My fame is shrewdly gor'd," etc. 

4. Made old offences, etc. " Entered into new friendships and loves 
which were transgressions against my old love " (Dowden). 

6. Strangely. Distantly, mistrustfully. Cf. 49. 5 above. 

7. Blenches. JStartings-aside, aberrations ; the only instance of the 
noun in S. Cf. the verb in W. T. i. 2. 333, T. and C. ii. 2. 68, M.for M. 
iv. 5. 5, etc. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. T.67 

9. Have what shall have no end. Mai one reads " save what " (the con- 
jecture of Tyrwhitt) ; but the meaning is " now all my wanderings and 
errors are over, take love which has no end " (Dowden). 

10. Grind. Whet. 

12. A God in love, etc. "This line seems to be a reminiscence of the 
thoughts expressed in 105, and to refer to the First Commandment" 
(Dowden). 

CXI.—" Continues the apology for his wanderings of heart, ascribing 
them to his ill fortune — that, as commonly understood, which compels 
him to a player's way of life " (Dowden). 

1. With. The quarto has "wish;" corrected by Gildon. For chide 
with, cf. Cymb. v. 4. 32, Oth. iv. 2. 167, etc. 

2. Harmful. The ed. of 1640 has " harmlesse." 

10. Eisel. Vinegar. Skelton (quoted by Nares) says of Jesus : 

" He drank eisel and gall 
To redeeme us withal." 
Cf. Ham. p. 265. 

CXII. — "Takes up the word//Vy from in. 14, and declares that his 
friend's love and pity compensate the dishonours of his life, spoken of in 
the last sonnet " (Dowden). 

4. O'er-green. Sewell reads " o'er-skreen," and Steevens conjectures 
" o'er-grieve." Allow = approve ; as in Lear, ii. 4. 194 : 

"O heavens, 
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway 
Allow obedience." 

Cf. Ps. xi. 6 (Prayer-Book version) : " The Lord alloweth the righteous." 
7. None else, etc. " No one living for me except you, nor I alive to 
any, who can change my feelings fixed as steel either for good or ill — 
either to pleasure or pain" (Dowden). Malone conjectures "e'er 
changes," and K. "so changes." D. prints "sense'," both here and in 
10 below. In the latter case it is pretty certainly the contracted plural 
(see on 91.4 above), and perhaps here also. 

9. Abysm. Printed " Abysm e" in the quarto. See on 20. 7 above. 

10. Adder's sense. For other allusions to the proverbial deafness of 
the adder, see 2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 76 and T. and C. ii. 2. 172. 

11. Critic. Carper ; the only meaning in S. Cf. L. L. L. p. 141. 

12. With . . . dispense. Excuse. See C. o/E.p. 117, note on 103. 

13. So strongly, etc. " So kept and harbour'd in my thoughts " 
(Schmidt). 

14. Are dead. The quarto has "y' are ;" corrected by Malone (1780). 
D. and Dowden read "they 're." 

CXIII. — "In connection with 112; the writer's mind and senses are 
filled with his friend; in 112 he tells how his ear is stopped to all other 
voices but one beloved voice ; here he tells how his eye sees things only 
as related to his friend " (Dowden). 



1 68 NOTES. 

3. Part his function. Divide its function. H. makes part=" depart 
from, forsake ; but partly confirms the other explanation." 

6. Latch. Catch. Cf. Macb. iv. 3. 195 : " Where hearing should not 
latch them ;" and see our ed. p. 244. The quarto has " lack ;" corrected 
by Malone. 

10. Favour. Countenance, aspect. Cf. 125. 5 below. See also Prov. 
xxxi. 30. 

14. Makes mine eye untrue. The quarto reads " maketh mine untrue," 
which Malone explains thus : " The sincerity of my affection is the cause 
of my untruth, that is, my not seeing objects truly, such as they appear to 
the rest of mankind;" and W. as follows: "maketh the semblance, the 
fictitious (and so the false or untrue) object which is constantly before 
me." On the whole, we prefer the reading in the text, which occurred 
independently to Capell and Malone. Coll. suggests "maketh my eyne 
untrue," and Lettsom "mak'th mine eye untrue." 

CXIV. — "Continues the subject treated in 113, and inquires why and 
how it is that his eye gives a false report of objects " (Dowden). 

4. Alchemy. Printed "Alcut/iie" in the quarto. See on 20. 7 above. 

5. Indigest. Chaotic, formless. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. v. 1. 157: "foul indi- 
gested lump;" and 3 Hen. VI. v. 6. 51: "an indigested and deformed 
lump." These are the only instances of the words in S. 

6. Cherubins. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 152: "a cherubin ;" and see our ed. 
p. 115. 

9. ' T is flattery in my seeing. Dowden quotes T. A r . i. 5. 238 : 

" I do I know not what, and fear to find 
Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind." 

11. What with his gust is greeing. What suits its (the eye's) taste. 
The quarto has greeing, not " 'greeing," as commonly printed. See Wb. 
For gust, cf. T. JY. i. 3. 33 : " the gust he hath in quarrelling," etc. 

13, 14. As Steevens remarks, the allusion is here to the tasters to 
princes, whose office it was to taste and declare the good quality of dish- 
es and liquors served up. Cf. K. John, v. 6. 28 : " who did taste to him ?" 
and see Rich. II. p. 220, note on Taste of it first 

CXV. — " Shakspere now desires to show that love has grown through 
error and seeming estrangement. Before trial and error love was but a 
babe" (Dowden). 

11. Certain d "er incertainty, etc. Cf. 107. 7 above. 

CX VI. — " Admits his wanderings, but love is fixed above all the errors 
and trials of man and man's life" (Dowden). 

2. Impediments. Alluding to the Marriage Service : " If any of you 
know cause or just impediment," etc. 

Love is not love, etc. Steevens quotes Lear, i. 1. 241 : 

" Love 's not love 
When it is mingled with regards that stands 
Aloof from the entire point." 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 169 

5. An ever-fixed mark, etc. Malone cites Cor. v. iii. 74 : " Like a great 
sea-mark standing every flaw." 

8. Whose worth *j unknown, etc. Apparently, whose stellar influence 
is unknown, although his angular altitude has been determined" (Pal- 
grave) ; an astrological allusion. Dowden remarks : " The passage 
seems to mean, As the star, over and above what can be ascertained con- 
cerning it for our guidance at sea, has unknowable occult virtue and in- 
fluence, so love, beside its power of guiding us, has incalculable potencies. 
This interpretation is confirmed by the next sonnet (117) in which the 
simile of sailing at sea is introduced ; Shakspere there confesses his wan- 
derings, and adds as his apology 

'I did strive to prove 
The constancy and virtue of your love ' — 

constancy, the guiding fixedness of love ; virtue, the * unknown worth.' 
Walker proposed ■ whose north ' s unknown, 1 explaining ' As, by follow- 
ing the guidance of the northern star, a ship may sail an immense way, 
yet never reach the true north ; so the limit of love is unknown. Or can 
any other good sense be made of " north ' ' ? Judicent rei astronomicce 
periti? Dr. Ingleby ( The Soule Arayed, 1872, pp. 5, 6, note) after quoting 
in connection with this passage the lines in which Caesar speaks of him- 
self (J. C. iii. 1) as ' constant as the northern star,' writes : ■ Here human 
virtue is figured under the " true-fix'd and resting quality " of the north- 
ern star. Surely, then, the worth spoken of must be constancy ox fixed- 
ness. The sailor must know that the star has this worth, or his latitude 
would not depend on its altitude. Just so without the knowledge of this 
worth in love, a man " hoists sail to all the winds," and is "frequent with 
unknown minds." ' Height, it should be observed, was used by Eliza- 
bethan writers in the sense of value, and the word may be used here in a 
double sense, altitude (of the star) and value (of love) ; love whose worth 
is unknown, however it may be valued." 

9. Time' 1 s fool. The sport or mockery of Time. Malone quotes 1 Hen. 
IV. v. 4. 81 : " But thought 's the slave of life, and life time's fool." 

11. His brief hours. Referring to Time. 

12. The edge of doom. Cf. A. W. iii. 3. 5 : 

"We '11 strive to bear it for your worthy sake 
To the extreme edge of hazard- ' ' 
« 
CXVII. — " Continues the confession of his wanderings from his friend, 
but asserts that it was only to try his friend's constancy in love" (Dow- 
den). 

5. Frequent. Intimate. In the only other instance of the word in S. 
(IV. T. iv. 2. 36) it is =addicted. Uiiknown minds =persons of little note, 
or obscure. 

6. To time. To the world, or society. Cf. 70. 6 above. Dowden sug- 
gests that the meaning may be, "given away to temporary occasion what 
is your property and therefore an heirloom for eternity." St. proposes 
"them" for time. 

II. Level. Aim ; a technical use of the word. Cf. R. and J. p. 190. 
See also the verb in 121. 9 below. 



I? o NOTES. 

CXVIII. — M Continues the subject ; adding that he had sought strange 
loves only to quicken his appetite for the love that is true" (Dowden). 

1. Like as. See on 60. 1 above. 

2. Eager. Tart, poignant (Fr. aigre) ; as in Ham. i. 5. 69: "eager 
droppings into milk." 

4. Purge. Take a cathartic. Cf. 1 Hen. IV. v. 4. 168: "I '11 purge, 
and leave sack." 

5. Ne'er-cloying. The quarto has " nere cloying," and the ed. of 1640 
" neare cloying ;" corrected by Malone (the conjecture of Theo.). 

7. Meetness. Fitness, propriety ; used by S. only here. 
12. Rank. " Sick (of hypertrophy)," as Schmidt defines it. Cf. 2 Hen. 
IV. iv. 1. 64 : " To diet rank minds sick of happiness." 

CXIX. — " In close connection with the preceding sonnet ; showing the 
gains of ill, that strange loves have made the true love more strong and 
dear" (Dowden). 

2. Limbecks. Alembics. The word occurs again in Macb. i. 7. 67. 

3. Applying fears to hopes. " Setting fears against hopes " (Palgrave). 

4. Still losings etc. " Either, losing in the very moment of victory, or 
gaining victories (of other loves than those of his friend) which were in- 
deed but losses " (Dowden). 

7. Fitted. The word must be from the nounyfr, and ^started by the 
paroxysms or jits of his fever. Lettsom would read "flitted," which 
surely would be no improvement. 

11. Ruined love, etc. " Note the introduction of the metaphor of rebuilt 
love, reappearing in later sonnets" (Dowden). Cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 4, A. 
and C. iii. 2. 29, T. and C. iv. 2. 109, etc. 

14. ///. The quarto has " ile ;" corrected by Malone. 

CXX. — "Continues the apology for wanderings in love; not Shake- 
speare alone has so erred, but also his friend " (Dowden). 

3. "I must needs be overwhelmed by the wrong I have done to you, 
knowing how I myself suffered, when you were the offender" (Dowden). 

6. A hell of time. Malone quotes Oth. iii. 3. 169: 

M But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er 
Who dotes yet doubts, suspects yet strongly loves;" 

and R. of L. 1286: 

"And that deep torture may be call'd a hell, 
When more is felt than one hath power to tell." 

9. Our. St. conjectures " sour." 

Remembered. Reminded ; as in Temp. i. 2. 243 : " Let me remember 
thee what thou hast promis'd," etc. 

12. Salve. Dowden compares 34. 7 above. 

CXXI. — "Though admitting his wanderings from his friend's love 
(1 18-120), S. refuses to admit the scandalous charges of unfriendly cen- 
sors. 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



171 



" Dr. Burgersdijk regards this sonnet as a defence of the stage against 
the Puritans " (Dowden). 

2. When not to be, etc. When one is unjustly reproached with being 
so (that is, vile). 

3,4. And the just pleasure, etc. "And the legitimate pleasure lost, 
which is deemed vile, not by us who experience it, but by others who 
look on and condemn " (Dowden). 

5. Adulterate. Lewd; as in Rich. III. iv. 4. 79, and L. C. 175. It is 
= adulterous in R. of L. 1645, Ham. i. 5. 42, etc. 

6, Give salutation, etc. Dowden quotes Hen. VIII. ii. 3. 103 : 

"Would I had no being, 
If this salute my blood a jot ! " 

Sportive =2Lmoxow<$>, wanton ; as in Rich. III. i. 1. 14: " Shap'd for sport- 
ive tricks." 

8. /;/ their 7vills. " According to their pleasure " (Dowden). 

11. Bevel. Slanting; figuratively opposed to straight, or "upright." 
The word is used by S. only here. 

CXXII. — "An apology for having parted with tables (memorandum- 
book), the gift of his friend " (Dowden). 

1. Tables. Cf. Ham. i. 5. 107 : " My tables — meet it is I set it down," 
etc. 

On the passage, Malone compares Ham. i. 5. 98: "Yea, from the table 
of my memory," etc. ; Id. i. 3. 58 : 

"And these few precepts in thy memory 
Look thou character ;" 

and T. G. of V. ii. 7. 3 : 

"Who art the table wherein all my thoughts 
Are visibly character' d and engrav'd." 

3. That idle rank. " That poor dignity (of tables written upon with 
pen or pencil)" (Dowden). 

9. That poor retention. "The table-book given to him by his friend, 
incapable of retaining, or rather of containing, so much as the tablet of the 
brain 1 ' (Malone). 

10. Tallies. Notched sticks used to "keep tally," as schoolboys still 
say. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. iv. 7. 39 : "our forefathers had no other books but 
the score and the tally," etc. 

CXXIII. — " In the last sonnet Shakspere boasts of his * lasting mem- 
ory' as the recorder of love ; he now declares that the registers and rec- 
ords of Time are false, but Time shall impose no cheat upon his memory 
or heart " (Dowden). 

2. Thy pyramids. "I think this is metaphorical ; all that Time piles 
up from day to day, all his new stupendous erections are really but ' dress- 
ings of a former sight.' Is there a reference to the new love, the 'ruined 
love built anew' (119. 11), between the two friends? The same meta- 
phor appears in the next sonnet : ' No, it [his love] was builded far from 



172 



NOTES. 



accident ;' and again in 125 : ' Laid great bases for eternity,' etc. Does 
Shakspere mean here that this new love is really the same with the old 
love ; he will recognize the identity of new and old, and not wonder at 
either the past or present ?" (Dowden.) Dressings— z&oxwmgs. 

5. Admire. Wonder at; as in T. N. iii. 4. 165: "Wonder not, nor 
admire not," etc. 

7. And rather make them, etc. " Them refers to ' what thou dost foist,' 
etc. ; we choose rather to think such things new, and specially created 
for our satisfaction, than, as they really are, old things of which we have 
already heard" (Dowden). 

11. Records. S. accents the noun on either syllable, as may suit the 
measure. Cf. 55. 8 above. 

CXXIV. — "Continues the thought of 123. 13, 14. The writer's love, 
being unconnected with motives of self-interest, is independent of Fort- 
une and Time " (Dowden). 

I. State. Rank, power. 

4. Weeds, etc. " My love might be subject to time's hate, and so plucked 
up as a weed, or subject to time's love, and so gathered as a flower " (Dow- 
den). 

5. Builded. The participle is oftener built ; as in 119. 11 and 123. 2 
above. 

7, 8. " When time puts us, who have been in favour, out of fashion " 
(Dowden). 

9. Policy, that heretic. " The prudence of self-interest, which is faith- 
less in love. Cf. R. and J. i. 2. 95 (Romeo speaking of eyes unfaithful 
to the beloved) : * Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars ' " (Dowden). 

II. Hugely politic. " Love itself is infinitely prudent, prudent for eter- 
nity" (Dowden). H. takes the phrase to be=" organized or knit together 
in a huge polity or State ;" to which we can only add his own comment : 
" Rather an odd use of politic, to us." 

12. That. So that ; as in 76. 7 and 98.4 above. Steevens conjectures 
"glows " for grows, and Capell "dries." 

13, 14. To this I witness, etc. Dowden asks : " Does this mean, ' I call 
to witness the transitory unworthy loves (fools of time — sports of time — 
cf. 116. 9), whose death was a virtue since their life was a crime ?" Stee- 
vens thinks that fools of time, etc., may be "a stroke at some of Fox's 
Martyrs ;" and Palgrave says : " apparently, the plotters and political 
martyrs of the time." H. suggests that it may mean, "those fools who 
make as if they would die for virtue after having devoted their lives to 
vice." 

CXXV. — "In connection with 124: there S. asserted that his love 
was not subject to time, as friendships founded on self-interest are ; here 
he asserts that it is not founded on beauty of person, and therefore can- 
not pass away with the decay of such beauty. It is pure love for love " 
(Dowden). 

1. Bore the canopy. That is, paid outward homage, as one who bears 
a canopy over a superior. King James I. made his progress through 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. I73 

London, 1603-4, under a canopy. In the account of the King and 
Queen's entertainment at Oxford, 1605, we read (Nichol's Progresses of 
King James, vol. i. p. 546, quoted by Dowden) : " From thence was car- 
ried over the King and Queen a fair canopy of crimson taffety by six of 
the Canons of the Church." 

2. Extern. Outward show. Cf. Oth. i. 1. 63: "compliment extern." 
Elsewhere S. uses externat ; as in 53. 13 above. On the passage, cf. 69. 
1-5 above. 

3. Or laid, etc. "The love of the earlier sonnets, which celebrated 
the beauty of Shakspere's friend, was to last forever, and yet it has been 
ruined " (Dowden). 

5. Favour. Outward appearance. Cf. 113. 10 above. 

6. Lose all and more. " Cease to love, and through satiety even grow 
to dislike " (Dowden). 

9. Obsequious. Devoted, zealous. Cf. M. W. iv. 2. 2 : "I see you are 
obsequious in your love," etc. H. explains it as = " mourned or lamented." 

11. Mix'd with seconds. Steevens remarks: "I am just informed by 
an old lady, that seconds is a provincial term for the second kind of flour, 
which is collected after the smaller bran is sifted. That our author's 
oblation was pure, unmixed with baser matter, is all that he meant to 
say." Seconds is still used (at least in this country) in the sense which 
Steevens mentions. We have little doubt that he is right in his expla- 
nation of the figure, which is not unlike the familiar one of the wheat 
and the chaff (cf. Hen. VIII. v. 1. 1 1 1, Cymb. i. 6. 178, etc.) ; but K. thinks 
otherwise. He says, after quoting Steevens's note, " Mr. Dyce called 
this note * preposterously absurd.' Steevens, however, knew what he 
was doing. He mentions the flour, as in almost every other note upon 
the Sonnets, to throw discredit upon compositions with which he could 
not sympathize. He had a sharp, cunning, pettifogging mind ; and he 
knew many prosaic things well enough. He knew that a second in a 
duel, a seconder in a debate, a secondary in ecclesiastical affairs, meant 
one next to the principal. The poet's friend has his chief oblation ; no 
seconds, or inferior persons, are mixed up with his tribute of affection. 

" In the copy of the Sonnets in the Bodleian Library, formerly belong- 
ing to Malone (and which is bound in the same volume with the Lucrece, 
etc.), is a very cleverly drawn caricature representing Shakspere address- 
ing a periwig-pated old fellow in these lines : 

1 If thou couldst, Doctor, cast 
The water of my Sonnets, find their disease, 
Or purge my Editor till he understood them, 
I would applaud thee.' 

Under this Malone has written, * Mr. Steevens borrowed this volume 
from me in 1779, to peruse the Rape of Lucrece, in the original edition, 
of which he was not possessed. When he returned it he made this draw- 
ing. I was then confined by a sore throat, and attended by Mr. Atkin- 
son, the apothecary, of whom the above figure, whom Shakspeare ad- 
dresses, is a caricature.' " 

12. Mutual render. "Give-and-take. This sonnet appears directed 
against some one who had charged him with superficial love " (Palgrave). 



I74 NOTES. 

13. SuborrCd informer. Dowden asks : " Does this refer to an actual 
person, one of the spies of 121. 7, 8 ? or is the informer Jealousy, or Sus- 
picion, as in V. and A. 655 ?" 

CXXVI. — "This is the concluding poem of the series addressed to 
Shakspere's friend ; it consists of six rhymed couplets. In the quarto 
parentheses follow the twelfth line thus : 

( ) 

( ) 

as if to show that two lines are wanting. But there is no good reason 
for supposing that the poem is defective. In William Smith's Chloris, 
1596, a 'sonnet' (No. 27) of this six-couplet form appears" (Dowden). 

2. Fickle hour. The quarto reads "sickle, hower," and Lintott "fickle 
hower." The old text has not been satisfactorily explained. W. (if his 
note is meant to be taken seriously) regards the line as " a most remark- 
able instance of inversion for 'Dost hold Time's fickle hour-glass, his 
sickle.'" Walker conjectures "sickle-hour," the hour being, as he 
thinks, " represented poetically as a sickle;" which H. adopts, adding 
that the figure is used " for the same reason that Time is elsewhere pict- 
ured as being armed with a scythe." We assume that "sickle" was a 
misprint for fickle (an easy slip of the type when the long s was in vogue), 
and explain, with Mr. J. Crosby: "during its fickle hour. The boy sim- 
ply held Time's fickle glass while it ran its fickle hourly course. Dost 
hold— dost hold in hand, in check, in thy power ; and fickle hour= 
Time's course that is subject to mutation and vicissitude." This seems 
to us the best that can be done for this puzzling passage. For his — its, 
cf. 9. 10, 14. 6, 74. 7, and 84. 6 above. 

5. Wrack. For the rhyme, cf. V. and A. 558, R. of L. 841, 965, and 
Macb. v. 5. 51. See also on 65. 6 above. 

9. Minion. Darling, favourite. See Macb. p. 153. 

12. Quietus. "This is the technical term for the acquittance which 
every sheriff receives on settling his accounts at the Exchequer. Com- 
pare Webster, Duchess of Malfi, i. 1 : * And 'cause you shall not come to 
me in debt, Being now my steward, here upon your lips I sign your 
Quietus esf " (Steevens). S. uses the word again in Ham. iii. 1. 75. 

To render thee. " To yield thee up, surrender thee. When Nature 
is called to a reckoning (by Time ?) she obtains her acquittance upon 
surrendering thee, her chief treasure " (Dowden). 

CXXVII. — "The sonnets addressed to his lady begin here. Stee- 
vens called attention to the fact that ' almost all that is said here on the 
subject of complexion is repeated in L. L. L. iv. 3. 250-258: " O who can 
give an oath ?" etc.' 

" Herr Krauss points out several resemblances between Sonn. 126-152 
and the Fifth Song of Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (that beginning 
1 While favour fed my hope, delight with hope was brought '), in which 
may be felt ' the ground tone of the whole series ' of later sonnets " 
(Dowden). 

1. In the old age black was not counted fair. W. remarks : " This is an 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. I?s 

allusion to the remarkable fact that during the chivalric ages brunettes 
were not acknowledged as beauties anywhere in Christendom. In all the 
old contes, fabliaux, and romances that I am acquainted with, the heroines 
are blondes. And more, the possession of dark eyes and hair, and the 
complexion that accompanies them, is referred to by the troubadours as 
a misfortune." 

3. Successive. By order of succession ; as in 2 Hen. VI. iii. 1. 49 : " As 
next the king he was successive heir." 

7. Bower. Habitation. Malone reads " hour." 

9. My mistress'' brows. The quarto has " eyes " for brows, which is due 
to the Camb. editors. Walker conjectures " hairs." Cf. IV. T. ii. 1. 8 : 

" Your brows are blacker ; yet black brows, they say, 
Become some women best," etc 

10. Suited. Clad ; as in M. of V. i. 2. 79, A. W. i. 1. 170, etc. For and 
they D. reads "as they." 

12. Slandering creation, etc. " Dishonouring nature with a spurious 
reputation, a fame gained by dishonest means " (Dowden). 

13. Becoming of . Gracing. For of with verbals, see Gr. 178. 

CXXVIIL— 1. My music. Cf. 8. I above. 

5. Envy. Accented on the second syllable; as in T. of S. ii. 1. 18: 
" Is it for him you do envy me so ?" Malone compares Marlowe, Edw. 
II. : " If for the dignities thou be envy'd ;" and Sir John Davies, Epi- 
grams : " Why doth not Ponticus their fame envy ?" 

Jacks. The keys of the virginal, or the piano of the time. For the 
instrument, see Two Noble Kinsmen, p. 177. Steevens quotes Ram Al- 
ley, 161 1 : 

"Where be these rascals that skip up and down 
Like virginal jacks?" 

11. Thy. The quarto has "their;" corrected by Gildon. 

CXXIX. — 1. Expense. Expenditure. Cf. 94. 6 above. 
2. Lust. The subject of the sentence. 
9. Mad. The quarto has " Made ;" corrected by Gildon. 
11. Proved, a very woe. The quarto reads " proud and very wo ;" cor- 
rected by Sewell and Malone. 

CXXX. — " She is not beautiful to others, but beautiful she is to me, 
although I entertain no fond illusions, and see her as she is " (Dowden). 

4. If hairs be wires. Cf. K. John, iii. 4. 64 : 

"O, what love I note 
In the fair multitude of those her hairs ! 
Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen, 
Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends 
Do glue themselves," etc. 

5. Damasttd. Variegated. Cf. A. Y. Z. iii. 5. 123 : " Betwixt the con- 
stant red and mingled damask." 

14. Any she. Cf. Hen. V. ii. I. 83 : "the only she," etc. For compare, 
see on 21. 5 above. 



176 NOTES. 

CXXXI. — " Connected with 130 ; praise of his lady, black, but, to her 
lover, beautiful " (Dowden). 

6. Groan. Cf. 133. 1 below. See also V.and A. 785: " No, lady, no ; 
my heart longs not to groan," etc. 

14. This slander. That her face has not the power to make love 
groan. 

CXXXII. — "Connected with 131 : there S. complains of the cruelty 
and tyranny of his lady ; here the same subject is continued and a plea 
made for her pity " (Dowden). 

2. Knowing thy heart torments. The quarto has " torment " for tor- 
ments, and Malone reads " Knowing thy heart, torment," etc. The text 
is that of the ed. of 1640. 

4. Ruth. Pity. See Rich. II. p. 199. 

9. Mourning. The quarto has " morning," and probably, as Dowden 
suggests, a play was intended on morning sun and mourning face. 

12. Suit thy pity like. That is, clothe it similarly, let it appear the same. 

CXXXIII. — "Here Shakspere's heart * groans '(see 131) for the suf- 
fering of his friend as well as his own " (Dowden). 

I. Beshrew. On this mild imprecation, see Rich. II. p. 192. 

II. Keeps. That is, guards. 

CXXXIV. — " In close connection with 133 " (Dowden). 

5. Wilt not. That is, wilt not restore him. 

9. Statute. "Statute has here its legal signification, that of a security 
or obligation for money " (Malone). 

10. Use. Interest ; as in 6. 5 above. 

11. Came. That is, who became. For the ellipsis, see Gr. 244. 

CXXXV. — " Perhaps suggested by the second line of the last sonnet, 
* I myself am mortgag'd to thy wilT " (Dowden). 

1. Will. " In this sonnet, in the next, and in 143 the quarto marks 
by italics and capital Wthe play on words, Will= William [Shakspere], 
Jf7// — William, the Christian name of Shakspere's friend [? Mr. W. H.] 
and Will—deshe, volition. Here 'Will in overplus' means Will Shak- 
spere, as the next line shows, * more than enough am I.' The first ' Will ' 
means desire (but as we know that his lady had a husband, it is possible 
that he also may have been a ■ Will,' and that the first ' Will ' here may 
refer to him besides meaning ' desire ') ; the second ' Will ' is Shakspere's 
friend" (Dowden). 

Halliwell remarks that in the time of S. quibbles of this kind were 
common, and he cites as an example the riddle on the name William t 
quoted from the Book of Riddles in our ed. of M. W. p. 135. 

5. Spacious. A trisyllable, like gracious below. Gr. 479. 

9. The sea, etc. Cf. T. N. ii. 4. 103 : 

" But mine is all as hungry as the sea, 
And can digest as much;" 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. I77 

and Id. i. I. n : 

"O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou, 
That, notwithstanding thy capacity 
Receiveth as the sea," etc. 

13. Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill. A puzzling line, as it stands. 
Schmidt is doubtful whether unkind is a substantive, and, if so, whether 
it means " unnaturalness," or " aversion to the works of love." Palgrave 
paraphrases thus : " Let no unkindness, no fair-spoken rivals destroy 
me." Dovvden says that if unkind is a substantive it must mean " unkind 
one (that is, his lady)," as in Daniel's Delia, 2d Sonnet : " And tell th' Un- 
kind how dearly I have lov'd her." He adds that possibly no fair may 
mean "no fair one ;" but suggests that perhaps we should print the line 
thus : " Let no unkind '* No ' fair beseechers kill ;" that is, "let no unkind 
refusal kill fair beseechers." This strikes us as a very happy solution of 
the enigma, and we have been strongly tempted to adopt it in our text. 

CXXXVI. — "Continues the play on words of 135 " (Dowden). 
6. Ay, fill. The quarto has " I fill ;" but ay was usually printed "I." 
Dowden suggests that possibly there may be a play on ay and /. 

8. One is reckoned none. See on 8. 14 above. 

10. Store's. The quarto has "stores ;" the Camb. editors follow Ma- 
lone in reading " stores'." Schmidt says of Store : " used only in the sing. ; 
therefore in Sonn. 136. 10, store's not stores'." " Lines 9, 10 mean ' You 
need not count me when merely counting the number of those who hold 
you dear, but when estimating the worth of your possessions, you must 
have regard to me.' ■ To set store by a thing or person ' is a phrase con- 
nected with the meaning of 'store' in this passage" (Dowden). 

12. Something sweet. Walker proposed and Dyce reads "something, 
sweet." 

13, 14. " Love only my name (something less than loving myself), and 
then thou lovest me, for my name is Will, and I myself am all will, that 
is, all desire " (Dowden). 

CXXXVII. — " In 136 he has prayed his lady to receive him in the 
blindness of love ; he now shows how Love has dealt with his own eyes " 
(Dowden). 

6. Anchor 'd. Malone compares A. and C. i. 5. 33 : 

"and great Pompey 
Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow; 
There would he anchor his aspect;" 

and Steevens adds M.for M. ii. 4. 4 : 

" Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, 
Anchors on Isabel. 1 ' 

9. Several plot. Halliwell says : " Fields that were enclosed were called 
severals in opposition to commons, the former belonging to individuals, 
the others to the inhabitants generally. When commons were enclosed, 
portions allotted to owners of freeholds, copyholds, and cottages, were 

M 



178 NOTES. 

fenced in, and termed severals." Cf. /.. L. L. ii. 1. 233 : " My lips are no 
common though several they be ;" and see our ed. p. 137. 

CXXXVIII.-— "Connected with 137. The frauds practised by blind 
love, and the blinded lovers, Shakspere and his lady, who yet must strive 
to blind themselves " (Dowden). This sonnet appeared as the first poem 
of The Passionate Pilgrim (published in 1599, when S. was in his 35th 
year) in the following form : 

" When my love swears that she is made of truth, 

I do believe her, though I know she lies, 

That she might think me some untutor'd youth, 

Unskilful in the world's false forgeries. 

Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, 

Although / know my years be past the best, 

/ smiling credit her false-speaking tongue, 

Outfacing faults in love with love's ill rest. 

But wherefore says my love that she is young ? 

And wherefore say not I that I am old? 

O, love's best habit is a soothing tongue, 

And age, in love, loves not to have years told, 
Therefore / 71 lie with love, and love with me, 
Since that our faults in love thus smother' d be." 

II. Habit. Bearing, deportment. 

CXXXIX. — "Probably connected with 138; goes on to speak of the 
lady's untruthfulness ; he may try to believe her professions of truth, but 
do not ask him to justify the wrong she lays upon his heart" (Dowden). 

3. Wound me not with thine eye. Malone quotes R. and J. ii. 4. 14 : 
" stabbed with a white wench's black eye ;" and Steevens adds 3 Hen. 
VI. v. 6. 26 : "Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words !" 

CXL. — "In connection with 139; his lady's * glancing aside' of that 
sonnet reappears here, ' Bear thine eyes straight.' He complains of her 
excess of cruelty" (Dowden). 

6. To tell me so. " To tell me thou dost love me " (Malone). 

14. Bear thine eyes straight, etc. "That is, as it is expressed in 93. 4, 
1 Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place ' " (Malone). 

CXLI. — " In connection with 140 ; the proud heart of line 14 reappears 
here in line 12. His foolish heart loves her, and her proud heart pun- 
ishes his folly by cruelty and tyranny. Compare with this sonnet Dray- 
ton, Idea, 29 " (Dowden). 

8. Sensual feast. Gratification of the senses. 

9. Five wits. See Much Ado, p. 120. 

11. Who leaves unswayed, etc. " My heart ceases to govern me, and so 
leaves me no better than the likeness of a man — a man without a heart — 
in order that it may become slave to thy proud heart " (Dowden). 

14. Pain* "In its old etymological sense of punishment" (Walker). 

CXLII. — " In connection with 141 ; the first line takes up the word 'sin ' 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



179 



from the last line of that sonnet. ' Those whom thine eyes woo ' carries 
on the complaint of 139. 6, and 140. 14" (Dowden). 

6. Their scarlet ornaments. Cf. Edw. III. ii. I : " His cheeks put on 
their scarlet ornaments." The line occurs in the part of the play ascribed 
by some to S. See on 94. 14 above. 

7. SeaVd false bonds of love. Cf. V. and A. 511 : 

"Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted, 
What bargains may I make, still to be sealing?" 

M.for M. iv. I. 5 : 

" But my kisses bring again, 
Seals of love, but seal'd in vain ;" 

and M. of V. ii. 6.6: " To seal love's bonds new made," etc. 

13. If thou dost seek, etc. " If you seek for love, but will show none," 
etc. 

CXLIIT. — " Perhaps the last two lines of 142 suggest this. In that 
sonnet Shakspere says 'If you show no kindness, you can expect none 
from those you love ;' here he says ' If you show kindness to me, I shall 
wish you success in your pursuit of him you seek ' " (Dowden). 

4. Pursuit. Accented on the first syllable ; the only instance in S. 
Cf. pursue in M. of V. iv. 1. 298 : " We trifle time ; I pray thee, pursue 
sentence." Walker gives many examples of pursuit ; as Heywood, 
Dutchess of Suffolk : " The eager pursuit of our enemies ;" Spanish 
Tragedy: "Thy negligence in pursuit of their deaths ;" B. and F., Wit 
at Several Weapons, v. 1 : " In pursuit of the match, and will enforce 
her ;" Massinger, Fatal Dowry, ii. 2 : " Forsake the pursuit of this lady's 
honour," etc. 

8. Not prizing. " Not regarding, not making any account of" (Malone). 
13. Will. " Possibly, as Steevens takes it, Will Shakspere ; but it 

seems as likely, or perhaps more likely, to be Shakspere's friend ' Will ' 
[? W. H.]. The last two lines promise that Shakspere will pray for her 
success in the chase of the fugitive (Will ?), on condition that, if success- 
ful, she will turn back to him, Shakspere, her babe " (Dowden). 

CXLIV. — "This sonnet appears as the second poem in The Passion- 
ate Pilgrim with the following variations : in 2, 'That like;' in 3, ' My 
better angel ;' in 4, ' My worser spirit ;' in 6, 'from my side ;' in 8, 'fair 
pride ;' in 11, ' For being both to me ;' in 13, ' The truth I shall not know.' 
Compare with this sonnet the 20th of Drayton's Idea : 

'An evil spirit, vour beauty haunts me still, 

# * ' * # # 

Which ceaseth not to tempt me to each ill; 

# # # # # 

Thus am I still provok'd to every evil 

By that good-wicked spirit, sweet angel-devil.' 

Compare also Astrophel and Stella, 5th Song : 

4 Yet witches may repent, thou art far worse than they, 
Alas, that I am forst such evill of thee to say, 
I say thou art a Divill though cloth' d in Angel's shining: 
For thy face tempts my soule to leave the heaven for thee,' etc." (Dowden). 



180 NOTES. 

2. Suggest. Tempt. Cf. Oth, ii. 3. 358 : 

"When devils will the blackest sins put on, 
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows." 

See also Rich. II. pp. 153, 198. 

6. From my side. The quarto has " sight ;" corrected from the P. P. 
version. 

n. From me. Away from me. Gr. 158. 

14. Till my bad angel, etc. Dowden compares 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 365 : 

"Prince Henry. For the women? 
Fahtaff. For one of them, she is in hell already, and burns poor souls." 

We prefer Hanmer's reading "burns, poor soul" (see our ed. p. 172), but 
the allusion in burns is the same in either case. 

CXLV. — "The only sonnet written in eight -syllable verse. Some 
critics, partly on this ground, partly because the rhymes are ill-managed, 
reject it as not by Shakspere" (Dowden). 

13. I hate front hate, etc. "She removed the words I hate to a dis- 
tance from hatred ; she changed their natural import ... by subjoining 
not you"'' (Malone). He compares R. of L. 1534— 1537. Steevens would 
read "I hate — away from hate she flew," etc.; that is, "having pro- 
nounced the words I hate, she left me with a declaration in my favour." 
Dowden is inclined to accept Malone's explanation, but thinks the mean- 
ing may possibly be, "from hatred to such words as / hate, she threw 
them away." 

CXLVI. — 2. Pressed by these rebel powers, etc. The quarto has "My 
sinfull earth these rebbell," etc. The corruption was doubtless due, as 
Malone suggests, to the compositor's inadvertently repeating the closing 
words of the first verse at the beginning of the second, omitting two 
syllables that belong there. Many emendations have been proposed: 
"Fool'd by those" (Malone), " Starv'd by the" (Steevens), " Fool'd by 
these " (D.), " FoilM by these " (Palgrave), " Hemm'd with these " (Fur- 
nivall), " Thrall to these" (anonymous), "Slave of these " (Cartwright), 
" Leagued with these " (Brae), etc. Pressed by is due to Dowden, and is 
on the whole as good a guess as any that has been made. 

Array is explained by some as = clothe. Massey thinks it also signi- 
fies " that in the flesh these rebel powers set their battle in array against 
the soul." Dr. Ingleby, in his pamphlet The Soule Arayed, 1872 (reprint- 
ed in Shakespeare : the Man and the Book, Part I., 1877), takes the ground 
that array (or aray) is =abuse, afflict, ill-treat. He gives several exam- 
ples of this sense from writers of the time. It is not found elsewhere in 
S., but we have rayed in T. of S. iii. 2. 54 and iv. 1. 3, where Schmidt ex- 
plains it as " defiled, dirtied." We prefer this explanation to that which 
makes array=c\othe — which seems to us forced and unnatural here — but 
we should prefer Massey's "set their battle in array against" to either, 
if any other example of this meaning could be found. Perhaps the turn 
thus given to the military sense is no more remarkable than the liberties 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 181 

S. takes with sundry other words ; and here the exigencies of the rhyme 
might justify it. For the rebel powers and the outward walls, cf. R. of L. 
722: 

" She says her subjects with foul insurrection 

Have batter'd down her consecrated wall, 

And by their mortal fault brought in subjection 

Her immortality, and made her thrall 

To living death and pain perpetual." 

10. Aggravate. Increase. 

11. Terms. Walker says: "In the legal and academic sense; long 
periods of time, opposed to hours" Cf. 2 Hen. IV. v. 1. 90 : " the wear- 
ing out of six fashions, which is four terms, or two actions." 

CXLVII. — " In connection with 146 : in that sonnet the writer exhorts 
the soul to feed and let the body pine, 'within be fed,' 'so shalt thou feed 
on Death ;' here he tells what the food of his soul actually is — the un- 
wholesome food of a sickly appetite. Compare Drayton, Idea, 41, ■ Love's 
Lunacie ' " (Dowden). 

5. My reason, the physician, etc. Malone compares M. W. ii. I. 5 : 
" though Love use Reason for his physician," etc. 

7. Approve. Find by experience (that). Cf. Oth. ii. 3. 317: "I have 
well approved it," etc. 

8. Except. Object to, refuse. Palgrave explains thus : " I now dis- 
cover that desire which reason rejected is death ;" but Dowden, better, 
" desire which did object to physic." Physic did except repeats the idea 
in prescriptions not kept, not that in reason . . . hath left me, as Palgrave 
seems to suppose. 

9. Past cure, etc. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 28: "past cure is still past care." 
As Malone notes, it was a proverbial saying. See Holland' 1 s Leaguer, a 
pamphlet published in 1632 : " She has got the adage in her mouth ; 
Things past cure, past care." 

10. Evermore unrest. Walker compares Coleridge, Remorse, v. 1 : 

"hopelessly deform'd 
By sights of evermore deformity." 

Sidney {Arcadia, book v.) has " the time of my ever farewell approach- 
es." 

CXLVIII. — " Suggested apparently by the last two lines of 147 : ' I 
have thought thee bright who art dark;' 'what eyes, then, hath love put 
in my head ?' " (Dowden). 

4. Censures. Judges. See Much Ado, p. 139 ; and for the noun (=judg- 
ment), Macb. p. 251, or Ham. p. 190. 

8. Love's eye, etc. The quarto (followed by most of the editors) ends 
the line with " all mens : no." The reading in the text was suggested by 
Lettsom, and is adopted by D., the Camb. editors (" Globe " ed.), and H., 
and is approved by St. It assumes a play upon eye and ay. Lettsom 
afterwards proposed " that " for love in the preceding line, and H. adopts 
that reading also. 

13. O cunning Love ! " Here he is perhaps speaking of his mistress, 



182 NOTES, 

but if so, he identifies her with ' Love,' views her as Love personified, 
and so the capital L is right " (Dowden). 

CXLIX. — " Connected with 148, as appears from the closing lines of 
the two sonnets " (Dowden). 

2. Partake. Take part ; the only instance of the verb in this sense in 
S., but cf. the noun in 1 Hen. VI. ii. 4. 100 : "your partaker Pole" (see 
our ed. p. 149). 

4. All tyrant. Vocative =thou who art a complete tyrant. Malone 
conjectures "all truant." 

8. Present. Instant, immediate ; as very often. 

CL. — " Perhaps connected with 149 ; * worship thy defect ' in that son- 
net may have suggested 'with insufficiency my heart to sway' in this" 
(Dowden). 

2. With insufficiency \ etc. " To rule my heart by defects " (Dowden). 

5. This becoming of things ill. Malone quotes A. and C. ii. 2. 243 : 

" for vilest things 
Become themselves in her," etc. 

7. Warrantise of skill. Surety or pledge of ability. 

CLI. — Omitted by Palgrave. See on 20 above. Dowden remarks : 
" Mr. Massey, with unhappy ingenuity, misinterprets thus : ' The mean- 
ing of Sonnet 151, when really mastered, is that he is betrayed into sin 
with others by her image, and in straying elsewhere he is in pursuit of 
her ; it is on her account' " 

3. Cheater. wSt. takes the word to be here —escheator, as in M. W. i. 3. 
77 (see our ed. p. 138); but, as Dowden remarks, the more obvious mean- 
ing of rogue makes better sense. 

For amiss, see on 35. 7 above. 

10. Triumphant pi-ize. "Triumphal prize, the prize of his triumph" 
(Walker). 

12. To stand, etc. Cf. Mercutio's speech in R. and J. ii. 1. 22-29. 

CLII. — " Carries on the thought of the last sonnet ; she cannot justly 
complain of his faults since she herself is as guilty or even more guilty" 
(Dowden). 

9. Kifidness. Affection, tenderness ; as in Much Ado, iii. I. 113 : 

" If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee 
To bind our loves up in a holy band." . 

See also Much Ado, p. 118, note on 23. 

n. To enlighten thee, etc. " To see thee in the brightness of imagina- 
tion I gave away my eyes to blindness, made myself blind " (Dowden). 

13. Perjur'd I. The quarto has " eye " for /; corrected by Sewell. 

CLIII. — Malone remarks: "This and the following sonnet are com- 
posed of the very same thoughts differently versified. They seem to 
have been early essays of the poet, who perhaps had not determined 



SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. 



183 



which he should prefer. He hardly could have intended to send them 
both into the world." 

Herr Krauss (quoted by Dowden) believes these sonnets to be harm- 
less trifles, written for the gay company at some bathing-place. 

Herr Hertzberg {Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, 1878, 
pp. 158-162) has found a Greek source for these two sonnets. He writes : 
" Dann ging ich an die palatinische Anthologie und fand daselbst nach 
langem Suchen im ix. Buche ('E7riSeiKTiKd) unter N. 637 die ersehnte 
Quelle. . . . Es lautet: 

Tad vtto t«? 7rAaT«vou? airaXui TCTpv/JLevos virwo 

evdev ' Epu>?, vv\x<po.i<s \afX7rcida irapOefxevos. 
Nufj.(pai <$' a.Wr]\r](Ti, ' t< jueAAojUei/; aWe 6e tovtu> 

<r^€(Tcrafxev^ einov, ' 6/jlov nvp Kpa6lr\s pep67r&>i>.' 
Aap.7ra? 6' to? e'0\e£e Kai vSara, Oepp-ov enelOev 

NvfX(pai 'EptOTtddes Xovrpoxoevaiv u5a)p."* 

Dowden adds : " The poem is by the Byzantine Marianus, a writer 
probably of the fifth century after Christ. The germ of the poem is 
found in an Epigram by Zenodotus : 

TtV yXvyj/as rov 'EpcoTa irapa Kprjvrjatv €0r\K€v ', 
Oiopevo? navaeiv rovro to irvp vda.ri.'f 

How Shakspere became acquainted with the poem of Marianus we can- 
not tell, but it had been translated into Latin: * Selecta Epigrammata, 
Basel, 1529,' and again several times before the close of the sixteenth 
century. 

" I add literal translations of the epigrams : 4 Here 'neath the plane trees, 
weighed down by soft slumber, slept Love, having placed his torch beside 
the Nymphs. Then said the Nymphs to one another, " Why do we de- 
lay? Would that together with this we had extinguished the fire of 
mortals' heart !" But as the torch made the waters also to blaze, hot is 
the water the amorous Nymphs (or the Nymphs of the region of Eros $) 
draw from thence for their bath.' 

" ' Who was the man that carved [the statue of] Love, and set it by the 
fountains, thinking to quench this fire with water ?' 

" In Surrey's Complaint of the Lover Disdained (Aldine~ed. p. 12), we 
read of a hot and a cold well of love. Shenstone (Works, ed. 1777, vol. i. 
p. 144) versifies anew the theme of this and the following sonnet in his 
* Anacreontic' Hermann Isaac suggests that the valley-fountain may 
signify marriage, but this will hardly agree with 154. 12, 13." 

6. Dateless. Eternal. Cf. 30. 6 above. Lively = living ; as in V. and 
A. 498, etc. 

7. Prove. Find by trying, find to be. Cf. 72. 4 above. 

11. Bath, The quarto has "bath," but Steevens suggests that we 
should print " Bath " (the name of the English city). 

14. Eyes. The quarto has "eye ;" corrected in the ed. of 1640. 

* Epigrammata (Jacob) ix. 65. 

t Epigrammata i. 57. 

X See Hertzberg, Sh. Jahrbuch, p. 161. 



184 



NOTES. 



CLIV. — 7. The general of hot desire. In L. L. L. iii. 1. 187 he is called 

"great general 
Of trotting paritors. " 

Cf. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 163: "our general of ebbs and flows" 
(Diana, or Luna). 

12. Thrall. Bondman. Cf. Macb. iii. 6. 13 : "the slaves of drink and 
thralls of sleep," etc. 

13. This by that, etc. That is, the statement in the next line. 




INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
EXPLAINED. 



acceptable (accent), 130. 
action (legal), 152. 
adder's sense, 167. 
admire (=wonder at), 172. 
adulterate, 171. 
advance (=raise), 156. 
advised respects, 146. 
aggravate, 181. 
air and fire (elements), 145. 
alchemy (metaphor), 141. 
all tyrant (vocative), 182. 
allow (=approve), 167. 
amiss (noun), 141, 182. 
anchored (metaphor), 177. 
antique (accent), 135, 150. 
applying fears to hopes, 1 70. 
approve ( =find by experi- 
ence), 181. 
aray, 180. 

argument (=theme), 157, 164. 
array, 180. 

art (=letters), 152, 156. 
as (;=that), 156. 
aspect (accent), 138. 
astonished, 159. 
attaint (=blame), 157. 
attainted, 159. 
authorizing (accent), 141. 
ay (play upon?), 177. 
ay me ! 144. 

bankrupt (spelling), 153. 

bated, 151. 

bath(=Bath?), 183. 

becoming of, 175, 182. 

begetter, 127. 

bereft (=taken away), 130. 

beshrew, 176. 

besides (preposition), 137. 

bestow (=stow), 138. 

bevel, 171. 

bide each check, 150. 

black not counted fair, 174. 

blenches (noun), 166. 

blunt (=clumsy), 164. 

bore the canopy, 172. 

both twain, 144. 

bower, 175. 



brave (=beautiful), 132. 
breathers of this world, 157. 
builded, 172. 

came (^became), 176. 
candles (=stars), 136. 
canker (=worm), 141, 154, 

161, 163. 
canker-blooms, 148. 
captain (adjective), 147. 
carcanet, 147. 
censures (=judges), 181. 
ceremony (metre), 137. 
cheater, 182. 
check (=rebuff ), 150. 
cherubins, 168. 
chest (metaphor), 152. 
chide with, 167. 
chopped, 151. 
chronicle, 164. 
clean (adverb), 155. 
closure of my breast, 146. 
compare (noun), 136, 141. 
compile (=compose), 156, 

158. 
compounded with clay, 154. 
conceit (^conception), 132. 
condemnedforthyhand, 162. 
confined (accent), 165. 
confound (=destroy), 130, 

^if i53- 
consecrate, 155. 
converted (^changed), 146. 
converted (=turned away), 

130, 131. 
convertest (rhyme), 131, 133. 
count (^account), 129. 
counterfeit (rhyme), 148. 
couplement, 136. 
courses (=years), 150. 
coward conquest of wretch's 

knife, 155. 
critic (=carper), 167. 
crooked (^malignant), 150. 
curious (^fastidious), 143. 

damasked, 175. 

dateless (^endless), 140, 183- 



days outworn, 153. 
dead seeing, 153. 
dear religious love, 140. 
dearest (=most intense), 143. 
debate (=contend), 132. 
debate (=contest), 160. 
dedicated words, 157. 
defeat (=destroy), 151. 
defeated (=defrauded), 135. 
delves the parallels, 151. 
depart (transitive), 131. 
deserts (rhyme), 134, 146, 

154- . 
determinate, 159. 
determination (=end), 132. 
disabled (quadrisyllable) ,152. 
discloses (=uncloses), 148. 
dispense with, 167. 
distillation (=perfume), 130. 
doubting (^fearing), 155. 
dressings, 172. 
dullness (^drowsiness), 149. 

eager (=tart), 170. 

earth and water (elements), 

145- 

edge of doom, 169. 
j eisel, 167. 

I enlarged (=set free), 154. 
! entitled in thy parts, 143. 

envy (accent), 175. 

ever-fixed mark, 169. 

evermore (adjective), 181. 

except (=refuse), 181. 

exchange, 166. 

expense(=expenditure), 161, 

J 75- , x 

expense (=loss), 140. 
expiate (=bring to an end), 

136. 
extern, 173. 
eye of heaven, 135. 

fair (=beauty), 134, 135, 153, 

158. 
false in rolling (eyes), 135. 
fame (verb), 158. 
famished for a look, 145. 



1 86 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 



favour (^countenance), 168, 

173- 
fell arrest, 155. 
fester (=rot), 161. 
fickle hour, 174. 
filed, 158. 

filled up his line, 159. 
fitted, 170. 
five wits, 178. 
fleets (=fleetest), 135. 
flourish (noun), 151. 
foison, 148. 
fond (=foolish), 129. 
fond on, 158. 
fools of time, 172. 
for(=because), 143, 148, 165. 
for (=for fear of), 147. 
for fear of trust, 137. 
fore, 130. 

forlorn (accent), 141. 
fortify (intransitive), 151. 
free (^liberal), 129. 
frequent (=intimate), 169. 
from (=away from), 180. 
fury (^inspiration), 163. 

gaudy (—gay), 128. 

gaze (=object of gaze), 130. 

general of hot desire, 183. 

go (=walk), 147. 

gored mine own thoughts, 

166. 
gracious ( =full of grace ), 

151- 
gracious (trisyllable), 176. 
greeing, 168. 
grind (=whet), 167. 
gust (=taste), 168. 

habit (=bearing), 178. 
happies, 130. 
heavy Saturn, 162. 
hell of time, 170. 
his(=its), 131, 133, 155, 158, 

174. 
hope of orphans, 162. 
horse (plural), 160. 
hours (dissyllable), 130. 
hues (=Hughes?), 135. 
hugely politic, 172. 
hungry ocean, 152. 
husbandry, 132. 

I hate from hate away she 

threw, 180. 
idle rank, 171. 
imaginary ( ^imaginative ), 

imprisoned absence of your 

liberty, 150. 
in their wills, 171. 
incertairrties, 165. 
indigest, 168. 



instinct (accent), 147. 

insults o'er, 166. 

intend, 139. 

invention ( imagination ), 

jacks, 175. 

keeps (=guards), 176. 
key (pronunciation), 147. 
kindness (=affection), 182. 

lace (^embellish), 153. 
lame (figurative?), 142, 159. 
latch (=catch), 168. 
lay (=lay on), 163. 
learned' s wing, 156. 
leese, 130. 
level (=aim), 169. 
like as, 150, 170. 
like of hearsay, 136. 
limbecks, 170. 
lines of life, 134. 
live (=subsist), 129. 
lively (=living), 183. 
lovely argument, 157. 
lover (masculine), 140. 
love's fresh case, 166. 

maiden gardens, 134. 

main of light, 150. 

make faults, 141. 

makeless, 131. 

makest waste in niggarding, 
128. 

many's looks, 160. 

map of days outworn, 153. 

marigold, 138. 

marjoram, 162. 

Mars his sword, 149. 

master (=possess), 164. 

master-mistress of my pas- 
sion, 135. 

meetness, 170. 

melancholy (metre), 145. 

minion (=darling), 174. 

misprision, 159. 

mixed with seconds, 173. 

moan the expense, 140. 

mock their own presage, 
165. . 

modern (=ordinary), 158. 

moiety, 145. 

more and less, 161. 

motley (=jester), 166. 

mourning (play upon), 176. 

mouthed graves, 156. 

music (personal), 175. 

music to hear, 130. 

mutual render, 173. 

nativity (=child), 150. 
new-fangled, 160. 



no such matter, 159. 
noted weed, 155. 

obsequious (=devoted), 173. 
obsequious (=funereal), 140. 
o : er-green (verb), 167. 
one reckoned none, 177. 
owe (^possess), 135, 154. 

pain (=punishment), 178. 
part his function, 168. 
partake (=take part), 182. 
parts of me, 140. 
past cure, past care, 181. 
patent, 159. 
peace of you, 155. 
perfect's):, 147. 
perspective, 137. 
phoenix, 135. 

pointing (= appointing), 133. 
policy, that heretic, 172. 
poverty (concrete), 144. 
present (=instant), 182. 
pressed by these rebel pow- 
ers, etc., 180. 
pretty, 144. 

prevent (=anticipate), 163. 
pricked (=marked), 136. 
prime (=spring), 162. 
prizing (=regarding), 179. 
proud-pied April, 162. 
prove (=find), 154, 183. 
purge, 170. 
pursuit (accent), 179. 

qualify (=temper), 166. 
quest (=inquest), 145. 
question make, 132. 
quietus, 174. 

rack (=clouds), 141. 
ragged (=rugged), 130. 
rank (=sick), 170. 
rearward, 160. 
record (accent), 150, 172. 
recured, 145. 
region (=air), 141. 
remembered ( ^reminded ), 

170. 
render (noun), 173. 
render (= surrender), 174. 
reserve (= preserve), 140. 
reserve their character, 158. 
respect (= affection), 142. 
respect ( ^consideration ), 

139, 146. 
resty, 163. 
retention, 171. 
revolt (=faithlessness), 160. 
rondure, 137. 
ruinate, 131. 
ruined choirs, 154. 
ruth (—pity), 176. 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 187 



satire (=satirist), 163. 
scarlet ornaments, 179. 
sealed false bonds oflove, 179. 
seat, 144. 

seconds (=flour), 173. 
self-substantial fuel, 128. 
sense (plural), 160, 167. 
sense (=reason). 141. 
sensual feast, 178. 
separable spite, 142. 
sessions of thought, 140. 
set a form upon, 159. 
set me light, 159. 
several plot, 177. 
shady stealth, 156. 
she (=woman), 175. 
simplicity (=folly), 152. 
slandering creation, 175. 
soil (^solution), 153. 
spacious (trisyllable), 176. 
special (adverb), 147. 
spirit (monosyllable), 157. 
sportive (=amorous), 171. 
stain (intransitive), 141. 
state (noun), 161, 172. 
statute, 176. 

steal from his figure, 164. 
steepy night, 151. 
stelled, 137. 
strained ( ^overwrought ), 

157- 
strains of woe, 160. 
strange (=stranger), 148. 
strangely, 166. < 
strangle (acquaintance), 159. 
store, 132, 133, i53» i77- 
stretched metre, 134. 
suborned informer, 174. 
subscribe (=yield), 165. 



successive, 175. 
sufferance (= suffering), 150. 
suggest (=tempt), 180. 
suit thy pity like, 176. 
suited (=clad), 175. 
sum my count, 129. 
summer's front, 164. 
summer's story, 162. 
supposed as forfeit, 165. 
surly, sullen bell, 154. 
suspect (noun), 153. 
swart-complexioned, 139. 
sweet thief", 142. 
swift extremity, 147. 
sympathized, 157. 

table (^tablet), 137. 

tables (=note-book), 171. 

tallies (noun), 171. 

tame to sufferance, 150. 

tasters, 168. 

tell (=count), 140. 

terms (legal), 181. 

that (=so that), 155, 172. 

thorns, standing on, 163. 

thought (=melancholy), 142, 

145- 
thrall (=bondman), 184. 
thriftless ( ^unprofitable ), 

129. 
tie up envy, 154. 
time (=the world), 169. 
time removed, 161. 
Time's chest, 152. 
Time's fool, 169. 
time's pencil, 134. 
times (=generations), 132. 
times in hope, 151. 
tires (=head-dresses), 148. 



took (=taken), 155. 
tottered ( =tattered ), 128, 

139- 
translate (=transform), t6i. 
travail (spelling), 157. 
triumphant prize, 182. 
twire, 139. 

uneared, 129. 
unfair (verb), 130. 
unkind (noun?), 177. 
unknown minds, 169. 
unperfect, 137. 
unrespected, 144, 148. 
unthrift, 131, 132. 
use (^interest), 130, 176. 
user (=possessor), 131. 

vade, 148. 

violet past prime, 132. 

warrantise of skill, 182. 
weed (=dress), 155. 
whenas, 146. 
where (=to where), 145. 
where-through, 138. 
whether (monosyllable), 150. 
Will (play upon), 149, 176, 

179. 
wink (=shut the eyes), 144*, 

149. 
without all, 153. 
wooed of time, 153. 
world-without-end, 149. 
worth ( =stellar influence), 

169. 
wrack (rhyme), 174. 
wracked, 157. 
wrackful, 152. 





Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, 
So do our minutes hasten to their end [Sonn- 60). 



SHAKESPEARE. 

WITH NOTES BY WM. J. EOLFE, A.M. 



The Merchant of Venice. 

The Tempest. 

Julius Caesar. 

Hamlet. 

As You Like It. 

Henry the Fifth. 

Macbeth. 

Henry the Eighth. 

Midsummer -Night's Dream, 

Richard the Second. 

Richard the Third. 

Much Ado About Nothing. 

Antony and Cleopatra. 

Romeo and Juliet. 

Othello. 

Twelfth Night. 

The Winter's Tale. 

King John. 

Henry IV. Part I. 

Henry IV. Part II. 



King Lear. 

Taming of the Shrew. 

All >s Well That Ends Well, 

Coriolanus. 

Comedy of Errors. 

Cymbeline. 

Merry Wives of Windsor. 

Measure for Measure. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona. 

Love's Labour 's Lost. 

Timon of Athens. 

Henry VI. Part I. 

Henry VI. Part II. 

Henry VI. Part III. 

Troilus and Cressida. 

Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 

The Two Noble Kinsmen. 

Poems. 

Sonnets. 



Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 56 cts. per Vol. ; Paper, 40 cts. per Vol. 



In the preparation of this edition of the English Classics it has been 
the aim to adapt them for school and home reading, in essentially the 
same way as Greek and Latin Classics are edited for educational pur- 
poses. The chief requisites are a pure text (expurgated, if necessary), 
and the notes needed for its thorough explanation and illustration. 

Each of Shakespeare's plays is complete in one volume, and is pre- 
ceded by an Introduction containing the "History of the Play," the 
"Sources of the Plot," and "Critical Comments on the Play." 



From Horace Howard Furness, Ph.D., LL.D., Editor of the "New Vario- 
rum Shakespeare. ' ' 
No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed with the 
conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with which they are 
edited. The educational purposes for which the notes are written Mr 
Rolfe never loses sight of, but like "a well-experienced archer hits the 
mark his eve doth level at." 



Rolfe'' s Shakespeare. 



From F. J. Furnivall, Director of the New Shakspere Society, London. 

The merit I see in Mr. Rolfe's school editions of Shakspere's Plays 
over those most widely used in England is that Mr. Rolfe edits the plays 
as works of a poet, and not only as productions in Tudor English. Some 
editors think that all they have to do with a play is to state its source 
and explain its hard words and allusions ; they treat it as they would a 
charter or a catalogue of household furniture, and then rest satisfied. 
But Mr. Rolfe, while clearing up all verbal difficulties as carefully as any 
Dryasdust, always adds the choicest extracts he can find, on the spirit 
and special " note " of each play, and on the leading characteristics of its 
chief personages. He does 7iot leave the student without help in getting 
at Shakspere's chief attributes, his characterization and poetic power. 
And every practical teacher knows that while every boy can look out 
hard words in a lexicon for himself, not one in a score can, unhelped, 
catch points of and realize character, and feel and express the distinctive 
individuality of each play as a poetic creation. 

From Prof. Edward Dowden, LL.D., of J he University of Dublin^ 
Author of "Shakspere : His Mind and Art." 

I incline to think that no edition is likely to be so useful for school and 
home reading as yours. Your notes contain so much accurate instruc- 
tion, with so little that is superfluous ; you do not neglect the aesthetic 
study of the play ; and in externals, paper, type, binding, etc., you make 
a book " pleasant to the eyes " (as well as " to be desired to make one 
wise ") — no small matter, I think, with young readers and with old. 

From Edwin A. Abbott, M.A., Author of " Shakespearian Grammar." 

I have not seen any edition that compresses so much necessary infor- 
mation into so small a space, nor any that so completely avoids the com- 
mon faults of commentaries on Shakespeare — needless repetition, super- 
fluous explanation, and unscholar-like ignoring of difficulties. 

From Hiram Corson, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon and English 
Literatwe, Cornell University, Ithaca, A r . Y. 

In the way of annotated editions of separate plays of Shakespeare, for 
educational purposes, I know of none quite up to Rolfe's. 



Rolfe's Shakespeare. 



From Prof. F. J. Child, of Harvard University. 

I read your " Merchant of Venice" with my class, and found it in every 
respect an excellent edition. I do not agree with my friend White in the 
opinion that Shakespeare requires but few notes — that is, if he is to be 
thoroughly understood. Doubtless he may be enjoyed, and many a hard 
place slid over. Your notes give all the help a young student requires, 
and yet the reader for pleasure will easily get at just what he wants. 
You have indeed been conscientiously concise. 

Under date of July 25, 1879, Prof. Child adds : Mr. Rolfe's editions 
of plays of Shakespeare are very valuable and convenient books, whether 
for a college class or for private study. I have used them with my 
students, and I welcome every addition that is made to the series. They 
show care, research, and good judgment, and are fully up to the time in 
scholarship. I fully agree with the opinion that experienced teachers 
have expressed of the excellence of these books. 

From Rev. A. P. Peabody, D.D., Professor in Harvard University. 

I regard your own work as of the highest merit, while you have turned 
the labors of others to the best possible account. I want to have the 
higher classes of our schools introduced to Shakespeare chief of all, and 
then to other standard English authors ; but this cannot be done to ad- 
vantage, unless under a teacher of equally rare gifts and abundant leisure, 
or through editions specially prepared for such use. I trust that you 
will have the requisite encouragement to proceed with a work so hap- 
pily begun. 

From the Examiner and Chronicle, N. Y. 

We repeat what we have often said, that there is no edition of Shake- 
speare's which seems to us preferable to Mr. Rolfe's. As mere specimens 
of the printer's and binder's art they are unexcelled, and their other 
merits are equally high. Mr. Rolfe, having learned by the practical ex- 
perience of the class-room what aid the average student really needs in 
order to read Shakespeare intelligently, has put just that amount of aid 
into his notes, and no more. Having said what needs to be said, he stops 
there. It is a rare virtue in the editor of a classic, and we are propor- 
tionately grateful for it. 



Rolfe^s Shakespeare. 



From the N. Y. Times. 

This work has been done so well that it could hardly have been done 
better. It shows throughout knowledge, taste, discriminating judgment, 
and, what is rarer and of yet higher value, a sympathetic appreciation of 
the poet's moods and purposes. 

From the Pacific School Journal, San Francisco. 

This edition of Shakespeare's plays bids fair to be the most valuable 
aid to the study of English literature yet published. For educational pur- 
poses it is beyond praise. Each of the plays is printed in large clear type 
and on .excellent paper. Every difficulty of the text is clearly explained 
by copious notes. It is remarkable how many new beauties one may dis- 
cern in Shakespeare with the aid of the glossaries attached to these books. 
. . . Teachers can do no higher, better work than to inculcate a love 
for the best literature, and such books as these will best aid them in 
cultivating a pure and refined taste. 

From the Christian Union, N. Y. 

Mr. W. J. Rolfe's capital edition of Shakespeare — by far the best edi- 
tion for school and parlor use. We speak after some practical use of it 
in a village Shakespeare Club. The notes are brief but useful ; and the 
necessary expurgations are managed with discriminating skill. 

From the Academy, London. 

Mr. Rolfe's excellent series of school-editions of the Plays of Shake- 
speare. . . . Mr. Rolfe's editions differ from some of the English ones 
in looking on the plays as something more than word-puzzles. They give 
the student helps and hints on the characters and meanings of the plays, 
while the word-notes are also full and posted up to the latest date. . . . 
Mr. Rolfe also adds to each of his books a most useful " Index of Words 
and Phrases explained." 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage Prepaid, to any part of the 
United States, on receipt of the Price. 



